Skilled Nursing: Court Rules On Allegations Raised In Lawsuit.
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
The estate’s lawsuit alleges understaffing at the facility, but fails to demonstrate just how the presence of additional personnel or how more RNs instead of LPNs would have made a difference in this patient’s care.
On the other hand, the allegations of substandard care are supported by the fact the facility was written up by inspectors and found deficient in more than ninety specific instances.
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS THIRD CIRCUIT February 14, 2018The he executor of the estate of a former patient who passed away at age ninety in a skilled nursing facility filed a lawsuit for damages for understaffing and substandard care.
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Pennsylvania) ruled that an allegation of understaffing in a nursing care setting will not support a lawsuit without proof exactly how more staff or more licensed staff would have prevented the actual harm to the patient in question.
However, the Court was satisfied the allegations were sufficient to support a lawsuit for substandard care which led to gangrene and amputation of this patient’s lower leg. The facility was cited by inspectors and found deficient as to infection control practices during the time the deceased was a patient in the facility. That fact established a direct link between the facility’s neglect and the harm this resident suffered, the Court believed.
Robinson v. Geriatric, __ Fed. Appx. __, 2018 WL 871463 (3rd Cir., February 14, 2018).More from nursinglaw.com
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