Case Story: Recovering Compensation for a Nursing Home Wrongful Death

The unfortunate truth is most of our cases are cases where the patient or victim passes away as a result of neglect. And we’re often dealing with their family members more than we’d like to. One particular case that comes to mind was a case out in Palm Springs where this gentleman had a hospitalization because he had a minor stroke and it affected his ability to swallow at the hospital who’s put on what’s called NPO or they can’t eat anything orally. And so he was sent to the nursing home after the hospitalization on NPO orders. And they knew that they knew he wasn’t to receive any food or water orally. And so with an order like that, typically you’re supposed to make arrangements for them to get nutrition, hydration, and their medications in another fashion besides orally. There are ways to get those things to them.

But in this particular case, despite the fact that he wasn’t receiving anything orally, they made no alternative orders to get him food, medicine, or water. And so over the course of about a week, despite him yelling, screaming for water, they never made any changes to his orders. He didn’t receive any food, water, or medicine. And in this particular case, he had a cardiac condition where he needed specific medications. Unfortunately, after that week of suffering and thirst and hunger, he ultimately passed away. That was a particularly challenging case in that there were numerous parties involved. Not only was the nursing home responsible, we also had to sue the doctor who made the orders for him to be NPO and he also failed to obviously make subsequent orders to make sure he got food, water, and medicine. We also had to sue the medical group that this physician was a part of as well. If you or your loved one has been subject to neglect or abuse and has passed away, please give us a call and we’ll do everything we can to make sure they get justice and the facilities are held accountable.