Joshua Wahl vs. Aurora Residential Alternatives, Aurora Community Services and Aurora Integrated Management.Joshua Wahl was a 34 year old, developmentally and mentally disabled individual who was living in Aurora Community Services assisted living facility. He was neglected and ultimately hospitalized for injuries related to Aurora’s neglect. Because Joshua was entitled to Resident Rights under the Mental Health Act, in addition to the verdict, judgment was entered for all costs and attorneys fees totaling $4.2 million.
Case No.: 12-CV-178A Dunn County jury in Menomonee, Wisconsin included in their verdict $3,546,777.74 for a man in a Community Based Residential Facility who was allowed to develop pressure sores, not taken to the Emergency Room for nearly one month, and suffered permanent damage from the bed sores. The jury included over $2.5 million in punitive damages for the corporation’s intentional disregard. This is the largest reported verdict in a CBRF case in Dunn County and the State of Wisconsin.
Estate of Charles Bradley v. Sun Healthcare Group, Inc., et al, Washington State, Snohomish County Case No. 09-2-09755-9In March 2008, Mr. Bradley was taken to the hospital for what was a presumed diagnosis of pneumonia. While in the hospital, the emergency room physicians noted the smell of rotting flesh and realized that Mr. Bradley’s entire penis and portions of his scrotum were missing. Later in that hospitalization, Mr. Bradley was diagnosed with a rare, but 95% curable form of penile cancer. Upon investigation, it was determined that several nurses, including Mr. Bradley’s case manager, were well aware that he was spotting blood in his incontinent brief six to eight months prior to his hospitalization. The nursing home had changed Mr. Bradley’s adult incontinence pad over 300 times in the months before his admission to the hospital. At no time was Mr. Bradley’s son or his doctor told about the known deteriorating condition. Unfortunately, Mr. Bradley passed as a direct and proximate result of the Defendants’ negligence. A public settlement was reached days before the trial was to begin.
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90-year-old legally blind resident of a CBRF with moderate dementia allowed to smoke cigarettes alone, unsupervised dies from burns.
JL was a 90-year-old legally blind, cognitively impaired resident of a CBRF in Northern Wisconsin. She was a lifelong smoker. She had been a resident of Country Terrace for years. Due to her dementia, JL would often lower her cigarette to her waist and burn holes in her pants and clothes. After repeated requests from JL’s daughter, a “smoking apron” was purchased for her, and her care plan was updated so that she could only receive one cigarette at a time from an aide. JL’s care plan specifically stated she could only smoke with supervision, that an aide would light the cigarette, and JL could only smoke with her smoking apron on.
Despite these changes in JL’s care plan, she was left outside alone, with a lighter and multiple cigarettes without her smoking apron. Predictably, due to her dementia, she lit a cigarette which caused her blouse to catch fire. JL suffered significant burns over her chest, neck and head and sadly passed away two weeks later following excruciating pain and suffering.
John Doe vs. ABC Nursing HomeMr. Doe lost nearly 40lbs in three months and was allowed to develop numerous decubitis ulcers leading to hospitalization.
Eau Claire County Case No. 2005-CV-43Donald Burdick was a resident of Lakeside Rehabilitation in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. He was allowed to lose nearly 30% of his body weight, was neglected and sustained numerous life-threatening and avoidable bed sores. This is the largest publicly recorded nursing home settlement found in the state of Wisconsin.
Estate of Cynthia Wilms v. Extendicare Health Services, Inc., et al, Dane County Case No.: 09-CV-1602Cynthia Wilms was an independent woman in her 70’s living in with her husband when she chose to have elective hip replacement surgery. She was discharged from the hospital to the Willows Nursing and Rehabilitation for a short term rehabilitation stay. Her surgical wound began to weep, drain and ooze so significantly, that her family members took her undergarments and nightgown home every day to wash. The nursing staff was notified by the family of the drainage and although nursing notes reflected that the doctor was to be called, no doctor was called for weeks. By the time Cynthia was taken by her husband to the emergency room, her infection had progressed so significantly that she was unable to recover in the hospital and died. She suffered from the most common type of post-surgical infection, which is 95% curable – if treated timely. The Estate was ready and able to prove at trial that understaffing, a significant state survey history and a failure by the corporation to supervise its nurses and nursing assistants caused Mrs. Wilms’ death. A public settlement was reached one week before trial.
Ho Im Bae vs. Lakeside Adult Family Home and Alpha Nursing, Inc., Cause No.: 12-2-02-012-2The Supreme Court of Washington ruled in a unanimously that a visiting nurse working for Alpha Nursing Services had an affirmative obligation to report abuse and neglect where it was witnessed, even though the nursing service did not directly care for the resident. Ho Im Bae was a resident at Lakeside who appeared to be asleep and was dragged through the kitchen by her arms with her feet dragging behind her. Alpha nurses, who did not care for Ms. Bae, witnessed her being dragged through the kitchen unconscious and the next day witnessed her fall to the ground and lose consciousness, which resulted in massive bruising to her head and face. Within days, Ho Im Bae died as a result of a morphine overdose. Ms. Bae was not prescribed any morphine. Ms. Bae was purposely given another resident’s morphine to chemically restrain her at the facility. The Supreme Court of Washington ruled that even though Alpha Nursing did not care for Ms. Bae directly, that under the Vulnerable Adult Statute in the State of Washington that they were mandatory reporters and did not do so. As a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the defendants settled for multi-millions.
64-year-old woman who suffered complications from a traumatic brain injury requiring tube feedings died from malnutrition and dehydration
In 2017, Sandra Denson was 64-year-old woman who was working her way toward retirement when she suffered a brain aneurysm. Within weeks of the brain injury, she suffered a subdural hematoma or brain bleed. As a result of these injuries, Sandra was unable to communicate with others or effectively move her body on her own. She was totally dependent upon staff for all activities of daily living, was tube feed and required a Hoyer lift to transfer her from bed to her wheelchair. Sandra’s family was from the outskirts of Madison and following a brief rehab stay in Milwaukee, they moved her to the Madison area.
In November, 2017, Sandra was admitted to Fountainhead Living. One of Fountainhead Living’s houses, Rathey House, was a newly owned CBRF or assisted living facility in DeForest, Wisconsin. The owners and operators claimed to be able to meet the high needs of Sandra which included the ability to provide tube feedings, pass medications and provide adequate care. The family was not told that the facility had no experience in any of these nursing delegated tasks, and in fact did not even employ a nurse at that time.
By March of 2020, COVID hit with all of its restrictions. The family, including Sandra’s mother and adult children, were unable to come into the facility to visit her and could only visit her through her window. Over the last four months of Sandra’s residency, she had lost over 40 pounds, however, the family was unaware because they were unable to do in person visits. Sandra had been repeatedly hospitalized for constipation and dehydration in the past and on
November 16, 2020, she was hospitalized again for massive dehydration and constipation.
In litigation, the plaintiff’s discovered in depositions and investigation that numerous aides were unable and in fact unwilling to provide Sandra with her physician ordered tube feeding and water flushes. Sandra’s physicians had ordered that her medications be provided through tube feeding and again Boller & Vaughan uncovered a number of aides who were still providing medications orally or left them out untouched or in fact never even gave her multiple medications. Ten days after her discharge from UW Hospital & Clinics for malnutrition and dehydration, Sandra was again transferred to UW. Sandra was as sick and dehydrated as a few of her doctors had ever seen. Sandra had a sodium level of a whopping 185. In short, Sandra had been allowed to starve to death despite requiring tube feeding and 24-hour care at Fountainhead.
Following complaints from the family and Boller & Vaughan, the Department of Health Services found numerous and repeated violations of substandard care at Fountainhead. Boller & Vaughan and the Denson family refused to settle for the insufficient policy limits purchased by Fountainhead. There were significant monetary contributions by the owners and operators of Fountainhead to resolve this claim.
Forced Arbitration for a Protectively Placed woman who was allowed to develop Stage IV pressure ulcers.
JL was a lovely 34-year-old disabled woman born with Rhett’s Syndrome who was Protectively Placed in an assisted living facility in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Unknowingly, her guardian signed an arbitration agreement and after Boller & Vaughan filed a lawsuit, the guardian was forced to participate in arbitration. JL’s guardian (also her mother) was intimately involved in JL’s life. Despite her family’s involvement, neither the family nor primary care physician were told of JL’s bed sores.
Through Boller & Vaughan’s investigation and discovery in arbitration, it was discovered that JL would sit for hours at a time strapped in her wheelchair on a bus driving to and from her day services program.
JL’s primary care physician had ordred JL be turned and repositioned every two hours. Moreover, when records from CBRF were obtained in discovery, it was clear that she was left for hours at a time either upright in her wheelchair and/or not turned or repositioned for up to eight hours at a time. JL’s bed sores became infected and ultimately developed into Stage IV pressure ulcers. She was diagnosed with Osteomyelitis. JL was eventually hospitalized and transferred to another facility where her ulcers healed. In addition to the settlement, the assisted living facility, now known as MyPath, accepted responsibility for their failures and their President and CEO wrote the family an apology letter. (See attached.) *
JL now has significant funds to ensure proper care for her future.
Estate of Winnie Turner v. North Haven of Stevens Point, Inc., et al, Portage County Case No.: 06-CV-63North Crest Assisted Living Facility accepted Winnie Turner, for admission, following a stroke and recent hip replacement. The assisted living facility ignored and failed to get all of the discharge paperwork from the previous nursing home for Mr. Turner. In the last six weeks at the nursing home, Mr. Turner had been dependent on two individuals for all activities of daily living, including maximum assistance with any movement and a 4-point walker and assistance of an aide. The assisted living facility evaluated Mr. Turner as “independent,” on his day of admission. He was left alone and predictably on the first day he fell while trying to transport himself to the bathroom. The assisted living facility did not contact the primary care physician, or family and did not change his care plan or provide any other assistance. Only a day later Mr. Turner suffered another fall when he was left alone during a fire in the building. Mr. Turner was left alone to fend for himself in the middle of the night during a fire in which the smoke filled the building. Predictably, Mr. Turner fell and re-fractured his hip. Unfortunately, Mr. Turner was hospitalized for a period of three weeks and suffered predictable and preventable illnesses, which caused his death.The jury returned a unanimous verdict with a note to the trial court judge indicating that the facility intentionally disregarded the rights of Mr. Turner, and requested that the facility be, “monitored by the State,” for all new admissions.
Jane Doe vs. ABC Nursing Home CompanyNursing home agrees to pay $1.2 million for failing to adequately treat the resident following falls. Numerous falls culminated in fractured hips and failure to report to this resident’s primary care physician, which resulted in hospitalization, surgeries and death.
A nursing home abuse and neglect special verdict $1,011,122.70. Sixty-nine-year-old nursing home resident was noticed to have a cold, his primary care physician was contacted and ordered the nursing home to get him to the office the next day. Over a period of nine days, the nurses failed to get the plaintiff to his doctor, and the plaintiff became catastrophically ill. Finally, on the tenth day, he was admitted to a local hospital as a result of “panic-level” laboratory values. It was too late. The nursing home resident had a 30-day hospitalization and ultimately died. This verdict is the largest known nursing home abuse neglect verdict in the State of Wisconsin.
An auto accident left our client with a permanent disability, including functional limitations in his hand. He was forced to leave his job. The case went to trial and the jury returned a verdict more than 15 times the amount of the insurance company’s pre-trial offer to settle.
Our client was rear-ended while stopped in traffic. His injuries left him paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair. The case was settled prior to trial for over $1,000,000.00.
Our client and his son were traveling on a two-lane highway when another vehicle crossed the center-line and hit our clients’ vehicle head-on. Our client suffered broken bones and internal injuries and died before he made it to the hospital. The teenage son suffered an injury to his leg. The cases were settled prior to trial for more than $1,000,000.00.
Estate of Jane Doe v. “Non-Profit Church-owned Nursing Home”Our client, an 80 year old female had resided at the nursing home for only a few months, when it was discovered that she had developed severe and debilitating bedsores. The facility, a church-run “non-profit organization,” had been issued Statements of Deficiencies, or violations of federal and state law, with the most severe scope for each of the two years preceding our client’s admission. The “Immediate Jeopardy” citations were for failure to prevent avoidable bedsores/pressure ulcers. Unfortunately, our client, succumbed to her wounds, and died of sepsis caused by the wound infections.
Appeal No. 2005AP1035Wisconsin, IV District Court of Appeals affirms $880,000, verdict for the plaintiff. Plaintiff was allowed to become malnourished, dehydrated and his pneumonia went undetected by the nursing staff. Decision March 16, 2006.
A Wisconsin nursing home agrees to settle with John Doe’s estate for failure to provide treatment for the one week he was sent to the nursing home for rehabilitation. In less than 10 days the plaintiff was allowed to become so malnourished and dehydrated, that several of his treating physicians thought that he was as dehydrated as they had ever seen upon admission to the hospital. Unfortunately, the resident did not survive and died two days later after his final hospitalization.
Protectively Placed, intellectually disabled 62-year-old woman sexually assaulted by assisted living facility staff member.
LG was a 62-year-old cognitively impaired woman who was forced to perform sexual acts on a 26-year-old male employee. The employee was ultimately charged with a crime and convicted. Sadly, LG was at high risk for sexual assault due to her pre-existing mental health history. The Corporate Defendants agreed to settle the case for a significant sum which allowed for ongoing sexual assault therapy for the remainder of LG’s life.
Elopement, severely demented resident allowed to escape facility in winter and freezes to death.
Alice McGaw was an 84-year-old woman who died because of hypothermia after walking out of Faith Gardens Memory Care facility on December 28, 2017. Alice suffered from moderate/severe dementia and was unable to communicate effectively with aides. Her family had her placed at a “memory care” facility because she was no longer able to remain in her previous assisted living facility. Alice was a frequent wanderer. Alice, like many Alzheimer’s/Dementia patients, was a frequent wanderer throughout the building and into other resident’s rooms. She would often try to leave the facility. The main reason the family chose Faith Gardens is because they claimed to be a sufficiently staffed, “locked” memory care facility.
On the night of December 28, 2017, Alice was noted to be wandering throughout the building for hours. Despite her repeated attempts to leave the building, no one addressed Alice’s ISP (Individual Service Plan) or retrained the staff on how to redirect and ensure Alice safely remained in Faith Gardens. According to discovery and depositions, “Alice was trying to escape all night.” At 8:00 a.m., during shift change, no one could find Alice. During the night she had wandered outside wearing only her pajamas and socks in subfreezing temperatures. The two doors to enter and exit the building were not functioning for months and management should have been aware. The alarmed door was turned off by staff and the inner door was propped open. Alice was found deceased that morning across the snow filled parking lot leaning up against a neighboring shopping center.
As a result of the complaints to DHS and the vigilance by the family to ensure a proper investigation by Boller & Vaughan, DHS and the State of Wisconsin ultimately revoked the operating license for Faith Gardens.
19-year-old male adult family home resident sexually assaulted by staff.
E.B. was a protectively placed 19-year-old male with significant cognitive impairments and learning disabilities. He resided at an assisted living facility in Kenosha, Wisconsin. E.B. was sexually assaulted by a 20-year-old male care giver. After Boller & Vaughan was hired as the law firm to take over this case, a confidential settlement was quickly reached with the insurance company for the assisted living facility. Most importantly, from the settlement E.B.’s family was able to ensure that he would have funds for treatment to cope with the sexual assault.
Dementia Resident in a nursing home ingested another resident’s opioid medication and died.
Dorothy Rieck was a nursing home resident with end stage dementia who lived at Watertown Health Care Center. She mistakenly ingested another resident’s narcotic, was hospitalized, and died. In litigation, it was discovered that Rieck’s roommate was on multiple doses of narcotics, multiple times per day. Testimony from nursing home nurses and aides established that medication passers would often leave her roommate’s narcotic pills unattended in their shared room.
On July 14, 2020, despite being found lying sideways and unresponsive in her bed throughout the night and am shifts, Rieck was not taken to the hospital for hours after the nursing home discovered a significant change in her condition. While in the hospital, nearly a day after she ingested a narcotic, the use of Narcan quickly reversed some of the effects of the overdose. Unfortunately, due to the delay in getting Rieck to the hospital, the medication mismanagement resulted in her death. The Corporate Defendant’s voluntarily paid an offer of settlement to avoid a jury trial.
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We live in Friendship, Wisconsin, and Boller & Vaughan came to our doorstep to discuss our mother’s wrongful death claim on a Saturday morning. Not only were we pleased with the large recovery, we were so thankful to have lawyers who were willing to explain to us every twist and turn along the way. It is great to know there is a law firm that will fight for the rights of elderly people all over Wisconsin.
Mr. Boller and Ms. Vaughan were incredible in working on my case and my daughter’s case. I was out of work and in the hospital with a new baby. Mr. Boller and Ms. Vaughan protected our rights and it was a pleasure to work with them. I hope never to be in another motor vehicle accident, however, if I am and I am injured, I will contact Boller & Vaughan immediately.
I was referred to Michelle through a friend. I have never had a better experience. It took a little over a year to get my settlement but the staff there stayed in constant contact and kept me in the loop. Oh, and Michelle actually got me MORE money than we discussed. I will refer anyone to this firm. Words cannot do justice the thanks that I have for Michelle and her staff (Mary especially) thank you guys so much!
After my husband died as a result of a motor vehicle accident, Boller & Vaughan spent countless hours talking with me, meeting with me in person, and making sure that I was okay. The drunk driver who hit us did not have any insurance, and we had to make a claim through our own insurance. Boller & Vaughan was fantastic at explaining the law to me and the handling of our claims.
After my son was injured in a daycare setting, Ms. Vaughan took the time to thoroughly investigate our case and my son’s injuries. Michele was approachable and had answers to our questions. Talking with her helped to relieve many of our anxieties.