Wrongful Death Lawsuit Proceeds: New Court Decision Says Medicare Not Entitled To Portion Of Recovery
A new court decision by the Eleventh Circuit in the matter of Bradley v. Sebelius, 2010 WL 3769132 (11th Cir. Sept. 29, 2010) helps clarify the murky area of the law as to who is exactly entitled to the proceeds from a wrongful death settlement proceeds in nursing home cases. In making its decision, the court ruled that the proceeds from a wrongful death settlement are the property of the decedent’s family exclusively and the proceeds are exempt from Medicare recovery. Bradley involves a wrongful death claim initiated by the family of Charles Burke who allegedly died due to the...
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Failure To Properly Treat Surgical Wounds Results In Settlement Of Wrongful Death Case With Nursing Home
The Chicago Tribune reported on a story involving the $2 million settlement of a wrongful death lawsuit involving a patient at a Wisconsin nursing home who suffered complications from improperly cared for surgical wounds. The patient identified as Cynthia Wilms, was admitted to Willows Nursing and Rehabilitation in 2007 following a hip replacement surgery. According to the families attorney, the facilities failure to treat the wounds resulted in her death. Willows Nursing and Rehabilitation is owed by mega-operator Extendicare. Below is a graph representing rate for surgical site infections from Brigham Woman's Hospital: My Take: To me, there's no more...
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Nursing Home Staff: Does Your Facility Love You? If So, They Would Properly Insure You.
Long before summer parties have begun, some nursing home owners are getting into a limbo contest of their own-- how low can they go with respect to the liability insurance they carry for their facility. In terms of liability insurance coverage, many facilities are electing to completely forgo such insurance or obtain such negligible coverage that provides mostly for the 'cost of defense' -- to pay lawyers to defend them. These are termed 'eroding' or 'wasting' where the cost of defense is deducted from the policy limits. Hence, if a facility had a $500,000 eroding policy and there were...
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Settlement Reached With Hospital & Assisted-Living Facility In Case Involving Amputation Of Woman's Legs
Following a trial and appeal, the family of Alice Limbrick has reached a settlement with the assisted-living facility where she was a resident. In the lawsuit (Roy Limbrick et al v. Mariner Health Care, Inc.), the deceased woman's family claimed both the assisted living facility where she was a resident and a hospital where she underwent medical treatment, were negligent in allowing her to developed pressure sores that ultimately led to the amputation of her legs. Following the fall and resulting hip fracture at Green Acres Parkdale, Limbrick was admitted to Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas where she underwent medical...
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State Settles Nursing Home Lawsuits For Exposure To TB
Eleven people exposed to tuberculosis at Pinecrest Hospital, a West Virginia nursing home, have settled their lawsuits brought against the facility. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of nursing home patients, employees and visitors claims the nursing home was negligent in failing to keep air contaminated with TB out of the general areas of the facility. Tuberculosis is bacterial infection commonly found in the lungs. Pulmonary TB is contagious and may be easily spread through the air. Symptoms include: heavy cough with sputum, tiredness, weight loss, fever increased pulse and swelling of the lymph nodes. TB is treatable, but requires...
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Are Trials Really That Important?
I began to think about this following my recent post on the Fairness In Nursing Home Arbitration Act and reading Donald Vanarelli's Blog on elder law. The reality of the matter is that trials are becoming less common with both parties frequently opting to either settle their disputes amongst themselves, agree to binding arbitration or use mediation to help them resolve their dispute. Nonetheless, trials will remain the ultimate way of deciding disputes. According to The Center for Justice & Democracy and Bureau of Justice: Trials in Federal Court have declined by 80% from 1985 to 2003 Of the 98,786 tort-related...
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