Case at a glance
- Recovery: $1.59 Million Combined Settlement
- Injury: Fatal intracerebral bleeding after a nursing-home fall
- Practice: Wrongful Death
- Attorney: Vuk Vujasinovic
A fall that the family said was concealed
The family alleged that a charge nurse forced Oscar into his room on the evening of May 25, 2000, causing him to fall over his walker and strike his head. The claim also alleged that staff put him to bed and concealed evidence of the incident.
Oscar’s roommate testified that he saw the fall and that nurses cleaned blood from the floor afterward. That testimony was part of the family’s effort to establish what happened before Oscar’s daughter found him the following morning.
Hospital care revealed a dangerous medication level
Oscar’s daughter arranged for him to be taken to the hospital. Hospital staff found a dangerously high level of the blood-thinning medication Coumadin in his system.
Oscar died five days later from intracerebral bleeding. His family pursued a wrongful death case in Harris County Probate Court No. 1, naming the nursing-home interests, a physician and the clinical laboratory.
The claims resolved in separate settlements
The case went to mediation in January 2002. The physician and his business agreed to pay $190,000, and the laboratory agreed to pay $125,000.
About one week before trial, the nursing home settled for $1,275,000. Together, the settlements totaled $1,590,000 for the case brought by Oscar’s family.
Questions about the case
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