A Kanawha County, West Virginia judge has affirmed most of a $91.5 million damage award against a Charleston nursing home in a lawsuit that claimed it failed to properly feed and care for an elderly woman who died hours after leaving the facility.
Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib Jr. cut about $400,000 from the jury’s award against Heartland of Charleston.
In August, jurors found the facility responsible for the fate of 87-year-old Dorothy Douglas, who died of complications from dehydration. Douglas had Alzheimer’s disease and other ailments when she was admitted to Heartland in 2009, and she lived there for three weeks. Her son’s lawsuit said the stay was intended to be temporary, until a bed opened at another facility. The suit said that before Heartland, Douglas could walk and talk. Three weeks later, she needed a wheelchair. She died within hours of her transfer to another facility.
The jury awarded $5 million in non-economic damages, but Zakaib ruled that 20 percent of that is subject to West Virginia’s $500,000 cap on damages in medical malpractice cases.
Heartland’s owner, HCR Manorcare, argued that the entire award should have been subject to the cap. Its lawyers said the company will appeal. The law requires juries to determine the percentage of medical negligence in each case. In Douglas’ case, jurors determined that 20 percent of Heartland’s negligence was medical.
Topics Virginia West Virginia
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