The medical examiner has ruled that a North Carolina woman’s death was the result of strangulation suffered at the nursing home where she lived. Her daughter has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Mary Bowling did not die at Carolina Rivers Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, the Jacksonville, North Carolina home where she was a resident, but her death certificate and the medical examiner’s report indicate that doctors believe she was strangled at the facility on September12, 2014. She died 18 days later in hospice care at Onslow Memorial Hospital, StarNewsOnline reports. The medical examiner’s report states that the cause of death was “consequences of strangulation.”
The lawsuit alleges that the nursing home, “knew that it was foreseeable that its residents were vulnerable and subject to intentional abuse by employees, visitors and other residents,” according to StarNewsOnline. Authorities have not identified the person who strangled Bowling and their investigation continues.
The lawsuit names Maple LTC Group LLC, Principle Long Term Care Inc. and Principle IT Services Inc. as defendants. In September 2014, at the time of the attack, Principle Long Term Care and Principle IT Services operated more than 40 long-term care facilities in North Carolina.
Bowling was admitted to Carolina Rivers on April 18, 2012, after suffering anoxic brain injury in which her brain had been deprived of oxygen. Because of her condition, she relied on the “defendants for all her activities of daily living,” according to the lawsuit. Bowling had no visitors from 12:13 a.m. to 6:51 a.m. on the day of the attack. At 12:13 a.m., “no acute changes were noted in Ms. Bowling’s condition,” according to StarNewsOnline, but at 6:51 a.m., Bowling “was bleeding out of her ears … and her face was slightly purple,” according to the complaint. Staff notified the facility’s director of nursing and left a voicemail for her doctor. Authorization to send Bowling to the hospital’s emergency department did not come until 11:48 a.m. Bowling remained at Onslow Memorial from September 12 to 23 and she died at Lower Cape Fear Hospice on September 30.
The legal complaint cites “assault and battery” and also describes “ordinary negligence” and the care facility’s duty to protect residents from third parties, including nursing-home employees. Since Mary Bowling “could not engage in any physical activity without the assistance of an employee of defendants,” her injuries could not have occurred without some “some negligent act or omission,” StarNewsOnline reports. The lawsuit also alleges that Bowling did not receive “appropriate and timely medical intervention,” after her condition was reported.
In addition, the complaint alleges “corporate negligence,” and accuses the defendants of not ensuring adequate staff to meet residents’ needs; not ensuring that abuse policies were implemented and followed; and not providing training so that employees could recognize the symptoms of abuse.
The plaintiffs seek wrongful death and punitive damages for alleged “outrageous or aggravated conduct,” and “wanton disregard of the safety of Mary Bowling,” according to StarNewsOnline.
According to Medicate.gov, Carolina Rivers was placed on “immediate jeopardy.” Inspectors “determined that the nursing home failed to: protect each resident from all abuse, physical punishment and being separated from others; provide necessary care and services to maintain the highest well being of each resident; and immediately failed to tell the resident the resident’s doctor and a family member of the resident of situations (injury/decline/room, etc.) that affect the resident.” The nursing home faced federal fines of $23,855.
from Parker Waichman http://www.yourlawyer.com/blog/north-carolina-nursing-home-residents-death-ruled-a-strangulation/
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