Class-Action Lawsuit Filed Over Katrina Nursing Home Deaths
September 14, 2006
A class-action wrongful death lawsuit was recently filed on behalf of 22 nursing home residents who died in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by the daughter of one of the victims.
Cheryl Martin lost her mother, Ida Antoine, in the days following Katrina's landfall in New Orleans. Antoine was a resident of the Lafon Nursing Home of the Holy Family, where 130 elderly residents were living at the time of the storm on August 29, 2005.
Martin filed a lawsuit on behalf of her mother and at least 21 other residents who died, claiming that the dismal conditions at the home in the days following the devastating event and the subsequent floods caused the deaths.
The lawsuit alleges that the nursing home disregarded Mayor Ray Nagin's August 27 th mandatory evacuation order.
“Despite [the evacuation order], … the recommended warnings by the national and local weather services, and … the warnings and publicly known dangers of the hurricane, Lafon failed to provide, arrange for or otherwise safely or adequately transport/evacuate [Martin's] mother and all those similarly situated,” the complaint said.
According to Martin's claim, the lack of power coupled with intense heat created “unreasonably dangerous conditions” at the facility, causing the patients to suffer unnecessarily.
Martin is seeking compensatory damages for herself, her mother's pain and suffering, and the pain and suffering of others injured by the inadequate care and poor conditions endured at the nursing facility after Katrina.
Have you or a loved one been the victim of nursing home neglect? Please contact us today for a FREE consultation with a caring and experience attorney who can help you seek the justice you deserve.
Find Nursing Home Abuse News in Your State:
Search Nursing
Home Abuse News Nationwide
top of page |
