Muskogee County’s Warner’s Countryside Health Services, operating as Countryside Estates, is facing a nursing home negligence lawsuit filed by a woman’s estate following allegations of negligence after her death.

The nursing home negligence lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Janet B., who allegedly died because of improper ventilator care in July 2017.

According to the lawsuit, the staff and personnel at Countryside failed to check on the resident for a lengthy amount of time before finding her unresponsive. The family chose Countryside because they believed that the nursing home provided quality ventilator care.

The nursing home negligence lawsuit is being filed by her children in order to hold the nursing home accountable.

The plaintiff alleges Janet B. was admitted as a patient at Countryside as she was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was dependent upon a ventilator to provide and move air into and out of her lungs.

However, while ventilators commonly have warning devices to alert healthcare workers when it turns off or becomes unplugged, the nursing staff and personnel at Countryside allegedly never heeded the warnings or entered Janet’s room until she became completely unresponsive and stopped breathing.

“On or about July 3, 2017… [Janet] was inexplicably allowed to become separated from her ventilator or the ventilator was unplugged, turned off, or otherwise stopped working,” the lawsuit states.

The “family chose Countryside Estates because the nursing home claimed specialized knowledge of the proper care of ventilator patients and specialized respiratory care,” they add.

The lawsuit claims that because of the facilities alleged negligence charges they caused Janet to suffocate. She was later transferred to Saint Francis Hospital in Muskogee, where she passed away.

“After being fully advised of [Janet’s] medical needs and knowing what was necessary to care for [Janet] and protect her from injury, Countryside Estates negligently and recklessly refused to care for, monitor, treat, supervise personnel, observe and protect [Janet] from injury, thereby negligently and recklessly causing her injury and death,” the complaint reads.

According to the estate’s attorney, the amount recovered could exceed the minimum jurisdictional amounts.

The nursing home negligence lawsuit is seeking damages in excess of $75,000. They are also seeking punitive damages including attorney fees and expenses at an amount of at least $75,000.

Senior Abuse Neglect Investigation

Nursing home neglect is, unfortunately, a common occurrence in the United States, with estimates that about 1 to 2 million U.S. citizens over the age of 65 are injured and abused by health caregivers.

Nursing home neglect can occur anywhere. Some common locations may include assisted living facilities, care homes, adult day care centers, residential boards, and skilled nursing home facilities.

Some types of abuse denoting senior mistreatment include the repeated failure or undoing by those responsible to provide protection, shelter, food, and health care; physical abuse, through the infliction of pain or injury; abandonment, the desertion by an individual responsible for the care of a vulnerable person; and sexual abuse, through any occurrence of non-consensual sexual acts of any kind.