$2.3 Million Verdict

Jurors Friday handed down a $2.3 million verdict against a Florida nursing home for causing the death of one of its former residents. Redding v. Parklands Facility, Inc., 2022-CA-000311. The resident died in 2021 after a pressure injury caused an infection that spread into both her blood and bones.

Claretha Davis was 72 when she died in April 2021, about four months after she developed a severe, deep pressure injury while residing at Parklands Care Center, a nursing home in Gainesville, Florida. A jury found that she died from complications relating to the pressure injury caused by neglect at the home.

During openings, family attorney Scott Fischer, walked jurors through the evidence showing neglect. Evidence showed the facility was inadequately staffed and because of that, nurses had failed to properly care for Davis, allowing the pressure injury to develop.

Davis developed the Stage 4 ulcer in late December 2020 while a resident of the facility. Davis’ family contends the facility’s staff failed to properly care for her, leading the wound to develop and ultimately causing her death roughly four months later. Davis’ death certificate specifically listed the pressure injury as the cause of the woman’s death.

In an emailed statement after the verdict, Fischer told CVN that he believed the case helped expose a troubling healthcare issue in Florida:

“Bedsores occurring at health care facilities have become a widespread problem in Florida. The excuses made by these facilities and their lawyers claiming that the bedsores are unavoidable or unpreventable are usually just that, excuses,” Fischer stated. “It is gratifying to know the jury could see through those excuses and it is fulfilling for justice to be served, not only for this family but for Floridians in general, because this is not an isolated event and things like this get brushed under the rug far too often.”