“This verdict is justice for her.”

A jury in Butler County, Ohio awarded $12.5 million to the family of 83 year old Janice Combs. See full article here.

Combs was admitted to Chesterwood Village Nursing Care in June 2023 for short-term rehabilitation after falling down stairs at her home. Family members said she was blind but had been living independently before entering the facility.

At Chesterwood, Combs suffered a traumatic incident causing injury. Her family alleged that an even more concerning incident occurred when nursing home staff dropped Combs as they transferred her from her wheelchair to her bed.

According to the lawsuit, paramedics noticed an injury to Combs’s head and found blood in the room. Notably, staff at Chesterwood had not documented these conditions, demonstrating neglect or a cover up.

Combs was taken to a hospital, where doctors diagnosed the woman with a severe brain bleed. She remained on a ventilator and died months later.

Following Combs’s death, her family filed a lawsuit against Chesterwood and its corporate operators.

Lawyers representing Chesterwood made the sinister claim that an aneurysm and other underlying medical conditions contributed to her death, rather than the preventable incident.

After a nine-day trial, the jury found that Chesterwood and its corporate operators breached the standard of care, violated Ohio’s Nursing Home Residents’ Bill of Rights, and caused Combs’s death.

The family was pleased by the verdict, as Combs’s daughter said, “This verdict is justice for her.”