Jury compensates resident’s family for wrongful death and neglect

A couple of weeks ago there was a  nursing home trial over in Tallulah, Louisiana. Tallulah is a small town about 20 miles west of Vicksburg, MS.

After a five-day trial, on Friday, November 2, 2007, a 12-person jury found that the nursing home committed medical malpractice and awarded the plaintiff $250,000 in survival damages and $500,000 in wrongful death damages. The jury also found that the nursing home was negligent in failing to clean Mr. Nelms of his own waste, and awarded the plaintiff an additional $250,000 on that basis.

The lawsuit was styled Everline King, Individually and on behalf of the Estate of Leon Nelms v. Brown Development, Inc. d/b/a Olive Branch Senior Care and D. Brown Enterprises, Inc., Case No. 05-348.

In the two months preceding his nursing home stay, Mr. Nelms lived in his daughter’s home without suffering any significant injuries or complications attributable to his declining health condition. Twenty-six days after entering Olive Branch Senior Care, however, he had to be transferred to a local hospital due to Stage IV infected pressure sores, weight loss, malnutrition, and dehydration. He died six days later as a result of his infected pressure sores, one of which was so advanced that it went to the bone and was infected with his own feces. Mr. Nelms was 84 years old at the time of his death.