Kentucky and Tennessee Nursing Home Deaths Make News

Nursing home deaths from abuse or neglect in Tennessee do not always make the nightly news, especially while an investigation is ongoing. Perhaps the recent reporting of nursing home deaths in this week’s news comes on the crest of TN nursing home industry’s anti-lawsuit legislation or maybe, finally, nursing home deaths from negligence are being treated with the importance they deserve.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, acting on a Knox County medical examiner’s opinion that her death was caused by poor nursing home treatment, is investigating the possible homicide of Hillcrest North nursing home resident Linda Darlene Carter. Ms. Carter suffered the horrors of dehydration due to inadequate care.

Ms. Carter had been injured in a car crash and had been transferred from the University of Tennessee Medical Center to Hillcrest Healthcare North to recover. Instead, the nursing home allegedly neglected to provide adequate care, namely, she received insufficient hydration for her to live, much less heal from her injuries.

She was survived by her son and daughter who have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the TN nursing home.

The next step for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, if review reveals homicidal negligence, will be a criminal investigation into the nursing home death.

In Kentucky, meanwhile this week, two KY nursing home aides have been charged with abuse and neglect in a Richmond, KY nursing home. One faces charges of wanton abuse and neglect of an adult and the other charges of reckless abuse and neglect of an adult after an investigation in August 08. A former third nurse at the Richmond, KY nursing home pled guilty to reckless abuse and neglect, was sentenced to one year in jail, and has instead been given probation for two years.

At least one of the claims alleges that meals were not offered to a 84-year-old nursing home resident. Instead, the charged ate the food herself, letting the resident starve. Also alleged is improper cleaning of a resident that put her at risk of an infection. The patient died in November from Alzheimer’s-related complications.

Wanton abuse or neglect of an adult is a Class D felony punishable by up to five years in prison under Kentucky state law while reckless abuse or neglect is a Class A misdemeanor.

If you have lost a loved one due to abusive or negligent nursing home care in Tennessee, Kentucky, or Georgia, contact Higgins Firm using our convenient nursing home attorney contact form.

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