From Courier-Journal: $8 million nursing home negligence verdict in Jefferson County
"A Jefferson Circuit Court jury on Monday awarded $8 million in damages to the estate of a retired surgeon whose legs were broken while he was in the care of Treyton Oak Towers in Louisville.
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Attorneys William Garmer and Matt Minner said that Dr. David Griffin died less than two months after he was improperly transferred from a chair into his bed — and that Treyton Oak tried to cover up what happened.
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Minner said after Grifffin’s legs were broken in the September 2008 incident, he was put back in bed “like it didn’t happen” and employees were ordered to change medical records and cover the incident up.
Because of a stroke, Griffin couldn’t tell anybody “about the agony he was in,” Minner said.
After being found with two broken bones on Sept. 24, 2008, he was treated at a hospital and later transferred to a different nursing home. He died Nov. 3.
Scott Whonsetler . . . defended Treyton Oak Towers. . . .
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The verdict was returned after the jury deliberated for about two hours and included $2 million for pain and suffering, $1 million for violating the state nursing home statute and $5 million in punitive damages.
The plaintiffs claimed Griffin was transferred without a lift and by only one nursing assistant, in violation of the nursing home’s care plan, which required two assistants.
That was disputed by the nursing home. No one answered a phone call to the nursing home.
Griffin was in his mid-80s and had retired many years before he was injured, Garmer said.
He had been a patient in Treyton Oak Tower’s skilled residential facility."
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