Jury unanimously rejects $20M fall-related lawsuit against nursing home
Poling Law has recently been feature in McKnights Long Term Care News for a recent case win. Link to original article: https://www.mcknights.com/news/jury-rejects-20m-fall-related-lawsuit/
Humanizing staff and proving the level of care they delivered was appropriate were the keys to a big win for an Ohio nursing home accused in a $20 million wrongful death case, according to defense attorneys.
Being upfront about the realities of long-term care also played a major role in securing a unanimous jury verdict in favor of the Delaware Court Healthcare Center in Delaware, OH, added defense attorney Brant Poling of Poling Law.
“We got experts to explain how … it’s hard to keep them safe even when providing reasonable and appropriate care,” Poling said.
The jury rejected all claims, including negligence, violations of resident rights and wrongful death.
Nora Caruso was admitted to the Delaware Court Healthcare Center for short-term rehabilitation in May 2019 following lower back fusion surgery. During a 48-day stay at the facility, Caruso experienced three falls that the lawsuit alleged resulted in a compression fracture of the patient’s thoracic spine, which then resulted in her death on July 30, 2019.
The lawsuit was pursued by Michael Hill Trial Law, a plaintiff firm that calls itself the “gold standard in nursing home abuse law.” The litigators have two other active cases against the Delaware Court Healthcare Center, which has been owned by the Levering family for three generations.
Lead defense attorney Jennifer Myers said that emphasizing to the jury the more than 100 combined years of experience among Caruso’s direct caregivers painted a picture of a 75-bed facility that took all the appropriate measures. The jury took less than two hours to rule in favor of the provider.
State and national experts testified for the defense that falls occur in long-term care settings even when fall-prevention protocols are in place, the attorneys said. Defense experts testified that Caruso’s pre-existing osteopenia, in addition to a prior spinal fusion involving multiple vertebrae in the lower spine, created significant stress on the middle spine, leading to the fracture rather than the falls themselves. Ultimately, Caruso’s death was due to underlying heart disease, they said.
“We knew we had good enough facts to argue the case,” Myers said. “We presented evidence that there was appropriate care planning, appropriate assessments, and good documentation of what happened.”