Pennsylvania Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog
On March 17, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that $5 million in punitive damages was awarded to the widow of a man who suffered fatal bedsores stemming from care he received in Jeanes Hospital in Northeast Philadelphia and the Hillcrest Convalescent Home in Wyncote.
According to the article, the elderly man was admitted to Jeanes in May of 2006 after it was thought that he suffered a stroke. A urinary tract infection, undiagnosed by doctors, became worse and left the man susceptible to bedsores.
After about a week at Jeanes, the man was transferred to Hillcrest where he stayed for two weeks. When his condition worsened, he was sent back to Jeanes. He was released to go home from Jeanes after three days.
The attorney who represented the elderly man’s wife claimed that workers at Jeanes and Hillcrest left the bedsores untreated and also allowed the man to go malnourished. The man died from the bedsores two years later.
Compensatory damages in the amount of $1 million were awarded in the case two weeks ago by the Common Pleas Court jury. The same jury awarded punitive damages in the amount of $1.5 million against Jeanes and $3.5 million against Hillcrest.