Elder Law

$7.75 Million Awarded in Elderly Abuse Case

By Levin & Perconti

A jury awarded $7.75 million to the family of a 71-year-old stroke victim who filed an elder abuse lawsuit against his nursing home. The trial featured a secret videotape of the woman being abused. The nursing home abuse lasted 22 days. The jury deliberated for two days before announcing the $7.75 million dollar nursing home abuse verdict, $5 million of which were in actual damages. The 71 year old was a resident at the center and family members noticed during a visit that she was bruised. They complained to the facility, but the nursing home failed to investigate. The family then set up a video camera on a side table in her room to do their own investigation. The video tape caught an employee slapping the victim, puller her around by the hair, bending her neck, fingers and wrists and treating her violently in a shower chair. The employee pled no contest to simple battery. This is a heinous example of nursing home abuse. To learn more about the nursing home verdict, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on December 17, 2009 (boomark / email).