Nursing Home Resident Dies after Being Left outside Alone: A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Liberty Health and Wellness, a Kansas City nursing home so plagued with nursing home malpractice issues that it has been named a federal Special Focus Facility for its serious quality problems.
The family of a 79-year-old Missouri nursing home resident who died in August 2022 after allegedly being abandoned for four hours in the blistering heat has secured a wrongful death attorney to sue his nursing home, says a Fox 4 News article.
According to the wrongful death attorney’s lawsuit, Bradford Williams, a resident of Kansas City’s Liberty Health and Wellness nursing home, was discovered in August of last year lying face-down on the ground next to his wheelchair in the facility’s inner courtyard more than four hours after a staff member wheeled him there. According to a state investigation, Williams’s body was covered with scratches and bruises and was teeming with bugs.
As per the lawsuit filed by his family’s wrongful death attorney, Williams had been wheeled to the inner courtyard after having expressed his dissatisfaction with the nursing home at the front desk. More than four hours passed before he was discovered lying in the grass, at which point the director of nursing declared him dead without performing CPR or calling 911. A funeral home was called instead. When the funeral home director saw the condition of Williams’ body and discovered insects crawling in hisMissouri Nursing Home Resident Dies after Being Left outside Alone facial orifices, he contacted the family.
In response to the wrongful death lawsuit and its allegations of nursing home malpractice, Liberty Health and Wellness denied any responsibility.
The Kansas City home is among the nation’s more troubled facilities, named to the federal “Special Focus Facilities” list. According to the article, 28 violations were cited in its May 2023 inspection, in which the following complaints of nursing home malpractice were cited by investigators:
- Medicine was not regularly delivered
- Some residents went without showers for up to eight weeks
- Food and water was not distributed, but left on food carts in hallways for residents to collect themselves. Bedridden residents depended on other residents to help deliver food and water
- Federal inspectors also found one resident in heavily soiled clothes with “dried blood in their hair”
According to Fox 4 News, at the time of Williams’s death, Liberty Health and Wellness was operated by 27-year-old Sam Goldner of Goldner Capital Management, then second in the state for owning the most nursing homes in Missouri with 15 facilities. The article goes on to say that at least four lawsuits have been filed by wrongful death attorneys against Goldner-operated nursing homes in the past three years. Liberty Health and Wellness is currently owned by Vertical Health Services based in Puyallup, Washington.
When nursing home malpractice occurs and a resident dies as a result, family members have the legal right to secure a wrongful death attorney and seek financial compensation for their loss. If you believe your loved one has died as a result of nursing home malpractice, immediately contact a nursing home wrongful death attorney.
Battling against Nursing Home Malpractice and Wrongful Death
Attorney Brian P. Murphy is an experienced nursing home malpractice lawyer and wrongful death attorney dedicated to protecting nursing home residents in Philadelphia/PA and NJ nursing homes. No resident of a Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, or New Jersey nursing home should fear experiencing elder abuse, neglect, or any kind of nursing home malpractice. Brian Murphy endeavors to hold Philadelphia/PA or NJ nursing homes accountable for substandard care and incidents of abuse, especially any sort of nursing home malpractice that results in wrongful death. Attorney Brian Murphy is ready to discuss your legal options. If you or your loved one needs to contact a nursing home malpractice and wrongful death attorney, call Brian Murphy today.
