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$11 Million Verdict in Assisted Living Case

By Beth Janicek

An Arizona jury awarded $11 million, the largest verdict ever awarded against an assisted living facility in the United States, to the widow of a 36-year-old man with a traumatic brain injury who died after ingesting foreign objects while in the care of Liberty Manor Residency. The verdict included $2 million for the decedent, $5 million for the wife, and $4 million in punitive damages. Lydia Scherrer, widow of Earl Scherrer, said 'I want this to be a lasting victory for all individuals with TBI or other disabilities living in assisted living centers or group homes.'

Earl Scherrer suffered a severe traumatic brain injury as a result of a car accident in 1996. He remained in a coma for 16 months before he began to slowly emerge. Mrs. Scherrer worked with her husband every day and eventually he slowly started to speak. She devoted many hours a week to her husband's recovery, but was forced to turn to an assisted living facility to provide the 24-hour care that her husband required. For years she visited him faithfully, even checking him out of the facility and taking him home on her days off, every Tuesday and Wednesday.

Mrs. Scherrer placed her husband in Liberty Manor Residency on April 7, 2006, a facility that claimed to provide 24-hour supervision of its residents. Exactly one month later, on May 7, 2006, Mrs. Scherrer received a call saying that her husband had been vomiting. She rushed over to Liberty Manor and brought her husband home and gave him a bath. Within minutes he began vomiting black matter and died in her arms.

The autopsy results showed plastic bags, unopened catsup packets, candy wrappers, and paper towels were found in Earl Scherrer's stomach and small intestine. The medical examiner determined that these objects were significant contributing factors to his death. The autopsy report read 'hypertensive heart disease due to mechanical obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract from foreign objects.'

At trial it was proven that Liberty Manor made numerous false entries in its charts with respect to Mr. Scherrer's care. There were notations of care on days when Mrs. Scherrer had checked him out of the facility, and Liberty Manor was unable to produce Mr. Scherrer's alleged caregiver.

Lydia Scherrer's attorney Craig Knapp said, 'Lydia Scherrer did not walk away from her husband, in life or in death. Her hope is that this verdict will force the assisted living facility industry to set and meet higher standards of care for their residents, resulting in enhanced protections for the defenseless individuals trusted to the care of others.'

Cases like this one should not happen. It is enormously important for assisted living facilities, as well as nursing homes, to provide the care that they promise. If Liberty Manor Residency could not provide the 24-hour supervision of Mr. Scherrer, he should have immediately been transferred. Most cases, such as this one, are based on the fact that the assisted living facility failed to transfer the resident once it became apparent that they were no longer capable of caring for them. In addition to failing to provide the promised 24-hour supervision of Mr. Scherrer, Liberty Manor Residency falsified nursing documents in an attempt to cover up that fact that he was not receiving adequate supervision.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Beth Janicek

Full post as published by San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyer on March 31, 2009 (boomark / email).