2nd Highest Jury Verdict in South Carolina Nursing Home Litigation

On April 27, 2007 a conference was held in Columbia, South Carolina, entitled, “Nursing Home Malpractice: Evaluating and Addressing Accountability.” The conference was sponsored by the National Business Institute. Five attorneys spoke on various aspects of nursing home litigation in South Carolina. Attorney D. Nathan Hughey, who has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in nursing home litigation, performed a study of jury verdicts in South Carolina in nursing home litigation for the past decade. Mr. Hughey reported at the conference that the most recent jury verdict in South Carolina was the case of Sinclair v. White Oak Manor, tried in November of 2005, in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. The jury awarded $1,050,000.00 in the case, being the 2nd highest jury verdict in a nursing home malpractice case in South Carolina in the past decade.

The case involved an 85 year old patient being administered a shot of insulin in error, along with other allegations of on-going neglect for a period of time. The Plaintiff alleged hypoglycemic shock and increased dementia, in a hotly contested case in which the Defendant denied that the patient suffered any long term problems.