Litigation

Brain Injury Victim Dies In Nursing Home As A Result of Nursing Home Abuse

By Michael Kaplen

 An Arizona jury  awarded a verdict of $11 million to the widow of a 36-year-old man with traumatic brain injury who died after ingesting foreign objects while in the care of  a Phoenix assisted living facility.
 
Earl Scherrer suffered a severe traumatic brain injury as a result of a car accident.  Following the accident, he lapsed into a coma and after 16 months slowly began to recover. He was confined to an assisted living facility that was to provide  24-hour care.

One month after being placed in the vicinity he began vomiting and died in the hands of his wife.
 
An autopsy revealed a number of items,  including plastic bags, unopened packets, candy wrappers and paper towels in his stomach and small intestines. The medical examiner determined these foreign objects were significant contributing factors to his death.

The nursing home was sued for abuse and neglect causing his wrongful death.
 
Reportedly at trial, it came to light that care facility made numerous false entries in its charts with respect to this resident?s care, including notations of care on days when his wife had brought him home.

Unfortunately, nursing home abuse and neglect happens far more often than is realized by the average person.  Cases of injury or death to nursing home residents require the investigation by a skilled nursing home malpractice attorney.  The brain injury lawyersat De Caro & Kaplen, LLP can assist victims of nursing home abuse.

Full post as published by Brain Injury News and Information on March 23, 2009 (boomark / email).