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Carlyle Nursing Unit to Appeal $91.5 Million Medical Negligence Verdict
The Carlyle Group nursing home subsidiary, HCR ManorCare Inc., will appeal a $91.5 million verdict awarded to a man whose mother spent 20 days in a home before dying in a hospital.
Dorothy Douglas of Barboursville, West Virginia, suffered dehydration and renal failure before dying, her son Tom Douglas claimed in his 2009 lawsuit filed in state court in Charleston, West Virginia. Dorothy Douglas, 87, suffered from dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
The jury on Aug. 5 found that Manor Care Inc., the unit owned by HCR ManorCare, was medically negligent in its care, according to the jury verdict form.
Douglas’s lawyers said the Charleston nursing home was understaffed and the home’s administrators knew it.
“Although the incident in question occurred two years ago, we feel that the center and staff acted appropriately in providing the proper care for this resident,” HCR ManorCare said in an e-mailed statement. “In addition we believe this center was staffed above the state requirements at the time in question.”
Spokeswoman Julie Beckert didn’t say on what grounds the company will appeal.
Mike Fuller, a partner in McHugh Fuller, whose lawyers tried the case, said they won a $1.5 million verdict for compensatory damages in a similar HCR lawsuit last year targeting the same Charleston facility. The case settled for a confidential amount before the jury decided how much to award, if anything, in punitive damages.
HCR ManorCare didn’t confirm the settlement.
“Due to our confidentiality provisions, we can’t comment on previously settled cases,” Beckert said.
The case is 10-C-952, Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia (Charleston).
Editor: Mary Romano
To contact the reporter on this story: Laurence Viele Davidson in Atlanta at lviele@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net.
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