Jury Awards $3 Million for Nursing Home Negligence

Randy Walton

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The owner of two nursing homes was ordered by a jury to pay more than $3 million to the estate of a former resident who developed bedsores on his body while a patient at the two nursing facilities. The resident died in 2004.

According to reports, the nursing home the verdict stems from a lawsuit alleging that the nursing staff at Barry Manor and White Oak Manor nursing homes were negligent, and failed to provide adequate care for patient for John Novogradac of Kansas City. The defendant was Health Care Management, which is owned by Sharo Shirshekan.

Novogradac, who lived at both facilities between 2001 and 2003, developed bedsores on his body during his stay. He had to have above-knee amputations on both legs after his wounds became severely infected with dead and gangrenous tissue.

The jury ruled that the nursing homes failed to provide adequate staffing, didn't attend to Novogradac's bedsores or turn and reposition him to prevent the problem. They also found the staff didn't properly treat Novogradac's wounds and no one monitored his condition or alerted a physician when his condition worsened.

The jury felt that inadequate staffing led to conditions that allowed this type of neglect to occur. The award to the estate was $500,000 in compensatory damages and over than $2.5 million in punitive damages.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Nursing Home and Elder Abuse.