$19 Million awarded in nursing home negligence case

MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> A Glen Mills nursing home must pay $19 million for the wrongful death of 70-year-old Patricia O’Donnell in 2019, including $15 million in punitive damages.

Brinton Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center will also pay O’Donnell’s daughters $4 million for pain and suffering and wrongful death.

“We are truly thankful for the Delco jury, and we really feel this showed that regular people can come together and do big things, us and the jury,” said the victim’s daughter, Stacey Loehrs. “We

trusted that our county residents would be as horrified as we were at what happened to our mom and we trusted that they would punish accordingly.”

Wrongful death

Loehrs and her sister, Bevin Newlin, filed suit against four defendants as the administrators of their mother’s estate in late 2020: Brinton Manor Center SNF; Vita Healthcare Group LLC, BM Rehab and Nursing Center LLC and Imperial Healthcare Group LLC.

The jury found that all four were negligent and that that negligence caused O’Donnell’s death. Vita Healthcare was found to be 60% liable, while BM Rehab and Nursing Center was 20% liable. Brinton Manor Center was 15% liable and Imperial was liable for the remaining 5%, the jury found.

Defense attorney Lawrence Jackson did not return a call for comment, but a pre-trial memorandum from the case stated the defense’s position that O’Donnell was already in decline when she entered Brinton Manor in March 2018 and that her health continued to decline “despite the significant efforts of the Brinton Manor nursing staff.”

Declining health

The complaint said O’Donnell was admitted to Brinton Manor March 28, 2018, at the age of 69. Her admission notes indicated O’Donnell had a history of diabetes, hypertension, gait disturbance, depression and falls that required her to use a walker or wheelchair. O’Donnell’s skin was noted as being “intact” with no pressure ulcers at that time.

“Upon her admission, Patricia O’Donnell was in good spirits and enjoyed participating in activities and eating with other residents in the dining area,” the complaint says.

But O’Donnell had at least eight documented falls between April 25, 2018, and Dec. 12, 2018, when she fractured a hip, requiring surgery that resulted in pain, anxiety, decreased mobility and contributed to her overall decline, according to the complaint.

Loehrs said throughout her mother’s stay at Brinton Manor that she and Newlin met numerous times with staff to go over care plans that they believed were being followed. As her mother’s condition worsened, Loehrs said they would receive apologies and promises that things would improve.

“It was just awful,” she said. “We had care plans, we had meeting after meeting trying to see what was going on. It was like they didn’t even care about the care of the people living there, the dignity of the elderly.”

O’Donnell began exhibiting behavioral issues associated with anxiety and checked herself into a crisis center in January 2019. She was readmitted to Brinton Manor on March 12, 2019, and a doctor noted at that time that she had no skin breakdown or pressure injuries.

By April 2, however, a care plan showed O’Donnell had lost weight and was suffering pressure wounds to her left upper and lower buttocks and coccyx. A nurse noted on May 2 that O’Donnell was suffering from deep tissue injuries to her buttock and an open area to her coccyx, but there was no further assessment of these wounds and no apparent skin check documented since the wounds were first noted a month earlier.

“Brinton Manor’s wound care documentation was inconsistent and absent at times from the first nursing note describing a facilityacquired pressure ulcer on May 2, 2019, until the time of her discharge to Riddle Hospital on July 21, 2019,” the complaint says.

Her wounds continued to progress until Loehrs visited on that day in July and found her mother shaking, barely speaking and with glazed eyes, the complaint says. A nurse allegedly reported that she was “fine and ate breakfast this morning.”

Loehrs called Newlin to the facility and both daughters agreed that there had been a significant change in O’Donnell’s condition.

“(They) attempted, unsuccessfully, to get a nurse to send her mom to the hospital,” the complaint says. “When the nurse refused, Bevin called 911.”

O’Donnell was lethargic and disoriented with a leftsided facial droop and fever of 100.3 degrees upon her admission to the hospital emergency room, the complaint says. She also had severe malnutrition and dehydration, as well as resulting acute kidney injury.

The complaint says O’Donnell had lost approximately 70 pounds during her stay at Brinton Manor, but the facility failed to appreciate the seriousness of this rapid weight loss, or adequately update a care plan or bring it to the attention of a physician.

Despite aggressive treatment with antibiotics, fluids, nutrition and wound care at the hospital, O’Donnell continued to decline and she was placed on hospice care Aug. 1.

O’Donnell died Aug. 5. Delaware County Medical Examiner Bennett Preston described a severe ulcer with obvious signs of infection in soft tissue and bone in his autopsy. He concluded O’Donnell died from hydromorphone intoxication contributed to by the infected Stage IV sacral wound, osteomyelitis and sepsis, according to the complaint.

Though O’Donnell was taken to Riddle Hospital July 21, Brinton Manor staff continued to mark on the “24 Chart Check” form that they were doing hourly checks on O’Donnell on July 22, 2019 and July 23, 2019.

The plaintiffs note this was impossible and said it called into question the accuracy of any charting done at the facility. They added that charts between July 16 and July 21, 2019, were “completely silent about wound assessments, treatments, or turning and repositioning.”

Validation

Loehrs thanked the jury for being invested in the trial before Common Pleas Court Judge Kelly Eckel and validating their feelings about what had happened to their mother on Brinton Manor’s watch.

“You’re trusting for them to take care of your family members and it’s sad,” she said. “I feel like me and my sister were there all the time visiting. We were talking to the nurses, we were checking in on the care plans, and we feel like if this could happen to us, it could happen to anyone. … It was like it was being hidden right in front of us.”

Loehrs also thanked Kline & Specter PC attorneys Lorraine Donnelly and Colin Burke for their dedication to the case.

“This Delaware County jury delivered a clear message that nursing home neglect will not be tolerated in their community,” the attorneys said in a joint statement. “The substantial punitive damage award puts all nursing home operators on notice and will serve to achieve accountability and deter similar conduct in the future.”

Loehrs said she and Newlin hope to spend the funds from the verdict to educate others on the potential pitfalls of nursing homes and how to look for signs of possible abuse or neglect.