Hospitals and skilled nursing facilities have a duty to protect their patients from any preventable harm that may occur while patients are in their care. Unfortunately for many patients, these facilities sometimes fail in their duty. That is what may have happened in West Virginia, as a woman’s estate is bringing a wrongful death lawsuit against a nursing home that allegedly failed to provide adequate care.
The facility is Pine Lodge Care and Rehabilitation Center, located in Raleigh County. According to the claim, the facility’s failure to provide adequate care led to injuries that eventually cost a woman her life. The woman was a resident there for more than a year, the claim states, but it does not indicate how long the nursing home negligence took place.
The estate is seeking compensation in this cause of action because of the home’s basic failures in upholding its duty toward patients. Those who check into skilled nursing facilities deserve to be treated with respect, and perhaps more importantly, they have a reasonable expectation that the home and its staff will provide medical care that meets recognized standards.
The estate will now look to recover damages that can be used by the victim’s family to cope with the loss of their loved one. Whenever a medical facility’s negligence causes death or serious injury, the civil courts allow various parties the option of filing this kind of lawsuit. People who find themselves in this difficult situation may have the right to pursue a nursing home neglect or wrongful death claim.
Source: The West Virginia Record, “Wrongful death suit filed against Pine Lodge,” Joel Brakken, Oct. 3, 2013
