A Massachusetts jury recently awarded a $14
million wrongful death verdict against a nursing home. Dollar amount aside,
this verdict is staggering because it includes a $12.5 million punitive damages
award, meaning the jury was trying to punish the facility for its alleged poor
care. The facility admitted it failed to administer proper care to the decedent
resident, but it rejected claims that the neglect led to the resident’s death.
Was there a way for the facility to avoid this trial, or at
least avoid being slammed with a verdict that included punitive damages? Were
documents available that may have substantiated the facility’s assertion that
its negligence did not lead to the resident’s death? Perhaps early case resolution
techniques could have been used to resolve this matter at the outset? This
year’s DRI Nursing Home/ALF Litigation Seminar offers sessions that address
these questions and more. Timothy Cesar, Brookdale Senior Living, Inc., and
attorney Bradley Kelly will lead “Putting the ‘Ending’ in Defending Litigation
and discuss how both sides to a dispute can best utilize early case resolution
to their advantage. Similarly, during “Ancillary Evidence May Be the Key to a
Successful Defense,” Tracey Maw, RN, MSN, will discuss how information
collected by a facility beyond a resident’s formal chart may be harnessed to
benefit a facility in litigation.
The 2014 Nursing Home/ALF Litigation Seminar will be held
September 18-19, 2014, at the Swissôtel Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. Register
today by visiting dri.org/Event/20140190.