Spangenberg Shibley & Liber attorneys Dustin Herman, Nicholas DiCello, and Abigail Hoover secured a $5 million verdict for the family of a 78-year-old woman who died due to nursing home neglect. “What was different about this case was the fact that all the defendants agreed this was a wrongful death case due to someone’s negligence—and that was the very first thing I told the jury in opening statement,” Dustin said. “What the defendants disagreed about was who was negligent and who, ultimately, was responsible for her death.”
The Case
The incident began at the nursing home, where staff were transporting the woman using a Hoyer lift that was missing a safety clip. The lift should have been taken out of service, but the nursing home had not properly inspected or maintained the lift. During the transfer, the lift’s strap fell off the spreader bar, causing the woman to fall and hit her head. The fall resulted in a subdural hematoma—a brain bleed.
The nursing home sent the woman to the hospital for evaluation. There, a radiologist reviewed her CT scan but failed to identify the brain bleed and reported the scan as negative. Relying on that reading, the emergency room doctor sent the woman back to the nursing home.
Back at the facility, she continued receiving her prescribed blood thinner medication. After 48 hours, her condition deteriorated, and the woman could not speak. She was transported back to the ER, where doctors discovered a large brain bleed. Surgery was not an option for her, and she died from the bleed two weeks later.
The Results
The nursing home admitted liability for the fall but argued the radiologist and ER doctor were also responsible for her death because they missed the bleed on the initial CT scan. At trial, the nursing home told the jury to place 80% of the blame on the radiologist and ER doctor, while the radiologist and ER doctor argued the nursing home was 100% responsible. Ultimately, the jury found the nursing home to be 100% at fault for this wrongful death and returned a verdict of $5 million for the family.
“Many people experience the loss of a loved one,” said Dustin. “But when it’s preventable and is the result of mistreatment, it hurts so much more, and the family members often feel anguish for the rest of their lives. This is especially true when someone trusts an institution to take care of their loved one, and that trust is betrayed.”
The woman’s son and niece testified, talking about the woman’s large extended family and how much she meant to the entire family. Many other family members were in the courtroom at various parts of the trial.
“When the jury came back to the courtroom and was allowed to talk to the decedent’s son, two of the jurors embraced him, sobbing and telling him how sorry they were for his loss, what a great family he had, and what a great woman his mother was,” Dustin said. “They brought him into the jury box with the rest of the jurors, and every single juror gave him a big hug. It was a really special moment.”
“The jury understood and appreciated the significance of the loss and anguish this family suffered from losing their mother, grandmother, and aunt in the way they did.”
