Jury Awards $3.2 million in Nursing Home Death

Jury Awards $3.2 million in Nursing Home Death

A Colorado jury has awarded the family of 88-year-old Henry Frazier $3.2 million in a case that involved negligence of the resident including gaping, septic bedsores that ultimately caused his death. When investigators reviewed Frazier’s charts they allegedly found evidence of 16 separate infections, and 34 injuries.

Frazier’s health was declining when a nurse aid reported to his son that he had a wound across his buttocks that was smelling of rot. When the son discovered the severity of the wound, a Stage 4 bedsore that had spread across Frazier’s buttocks and scrotum, he demanded his father be transferred to the hospital. Hospital staff found that Frazier was malnourished, dehydrated, and septic, suffering from MRSA an extremely antibiotic resistant bacteria.

A nurse expert hired by the plaintiffs told the court that she found that the “care provided to Mr. Frazier fell far below the standard of nursing care and wound care.”

Subsequent investigations by the state found 27 deficiencies, which included infection control, and state funded medical programs suspended payments for new patients.

Colorado has a wrongful death award cap that limits damages to $300,000, so it is unclear how much of the award the Frazier family will actually receive.