Hurricane Irma was devastating. Many people in the Wyoming had loved ones along the southeastern coast of the nation who were victims of the Category 5 storm system. Twelve deaths occurred at a nursing home facility. The tragedy led to litigation, as reported previously on this blog (“Nursing home negligence or consequences of natural disaster,” Feb. 1, 2018). The testimony from those proceedings was recently published.
The nursing facility, like many other buildings in the area, lost power during the storm. At issue in the litigation is whether management was negligent in its duty to keep residents as safe as possible during the crisis. As it stands, portable cooling units used to help compensate from the loss of power in the hot weather only put out 15 tons of cooling capacity as opposed to 125 tons necessary to sufficiently cool the building.
An engineering expert testified that running the coolers did more harm than good because insufficient ventilation at the time caused certain areas of the facility to grow warmer instead of cooler. Shockingly, one man, whose 70-year-old mother was among those who died, said no one from the nursing home ever contacted him to inform him of her death. He learned about it when a news reporter telephoned him, asking for him to comment on the situation.
In October, the facility lost its operating license, a decision it has appealed. Any time an elderly loved one suffers injury or death due to nursing home negligence, family members may have an intense desire to pursue justice. In this state, an experienced Wyoming personal injury attorney can assist anyone considering filing a nursing negligence claim in a civil court.
Source: miamiherald.com, “Hollywood nursing home where a dozen elders died ‘made it worse,’ state expert testifies”, Nicholas Nehamas, Daniel Chang, Sarah Blaskey, Carol Marbin Miller, March 23, 2018
