$13 Million Nursing Home Freezer Death Verdict Upheld
November 20 , 2006
The Delaware Supreme Court upheld the $13 million verdict a jury awarded to the family of a nursing home resident who died after being accidentally locked in a freezer at the home.
The high court unanimously agreed that the case’s original judge did not err in denying the defendants the separate trials they sought for the survival claim by the resident’s estate, the family’s wrongful death claims, and the estate’s punitive damage claims.
The court found that the evidence for the claims was too interlinked, and that witnesses would have had to testify multiple times, so separate suits were not warranted.
The original verdict was as follows: $4 million to the estate, and for wrongful death, $3 million to Anthony, Bailey’s husband, and $2 million to each of Bailey’s two sons.
The punitive damages claim was settled out-of-court for $5 million.
The Lawsuit
According to the lawsuit, Julie H. Bailey was 60 years old and suffered from advanced Alzheimer’s disease. She had the intellectual capacity of a 2-year-old.
She was admitted to the Lewes Convalescent Center, owned by Beebe Medical Center, on Dec. 28, 2002.
Five hours after she was admitted to the home, the suit says, Bailey wandered out of her room. The staff found her locked in a freezer more than four hours later, stuck to the floor by her frozen urine, the suit said.
According to the suit, Bailey suffered frostbite to her nose, hands, and feet. The staff failed to provide Bailey with pain medication before treating her frostbite, the family claims.
Bailey died on Jan. 21, 2003 shortly after suffering a pulmonary embolism.
Bailey’s family and estate sued Beebe Medical and the nursing home in the Sussex County Superior Court. They sought wrongful death-damages for themselves, pain and suffering damages for Bailey, and punitive damages.
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