Virginia nursing home accused of wrongful death by estate executor

A Virginia nursing home is facing accusations of wrongful death for their alleged role in the death of a resident two years ago.  The resident, Mary Ellen Hillyard, died three months after arriving at Evergreen Health and Rehabilitation Center in September 2008.

 

According to a lawsuit filed by the executor of the deceased resident’s estate, health care workers at the home gave the woman blood-thinning drugs that led to a massive hemorrhage.  The suit seeks $2 million in compensatory damages from several defendants.

 

Named in the lawsuit as defendants are two doctors from Winchester, the buiding owners (Long Term Care Properties LLC of Harrisonburg), and the company that operates and manages the home (Pinnacle Services Winchester Inc.)

 

Staff at the Virginia nursing home is accused of deviating from the standard of care for Hillyard while in the course of employment.  According to the lawsuit, employees from Pinnacle and LTC Propertes gave Hillyard duplicate medications to prevent her blood from clotting, and medications that should not have been given together.  This led to the hemorrhage that contributed to Hillyard’s death.

 

The lawsuit also claims that the doctors named in the case should have been reviewing the medications that were ordered for Hillyard, and they should also have been monitoring her lab results.  As they failed to review her medications and were the ones who ordered the drugs in question, the lawsuit contends that they contributed to her death.