Verdicts & Settlements
$700,000 Elder Care Nursing Home Case
Munley, Munley & Cartwright, P.C. is pleased to announce that Attorney Daniel W. Munley received a $700,000 verdict in Lehigh Valley on May 4, 1999 before the Honorable Lawrence Brenner. During the course of the trial, the jury heard the facts of the case as follows. On September 2, 1995 the plaintiff fell in front of her home, hit her head and suffered a subdural hematoma. During her hospitalization, she was found climbing out of bed on four separate occasions and was disoriented. She did not know what day or time it was "and she" did not realize that she could not walk. The hospital documented that the plaintiff was a patient at risk for falling.
On September 6, at approximately 10:00 am, one of the nurses at the Lehigh Valley Hospital placed the plaintiff in a chair. The nurse left the plaintiff in the chair practically unsupervised for over ten hours. She was supervised when she received her meals and physical therapy and when her vital signs were checked. At the end of the day, the plaintiff attempted to walk; she tried to get up, was unable to do so, and fell, fracturing her left hip. She was required to undergo surgery. She had an open reduction internal fixation of her hip requiring the plaintiff to stay in the hospital for more than four weeks. Since then, the plaintiff has been confined to a nursing home and was unable to attend the trial.
It has always been the goal of the plaintiff's husband to bring his wife home. During the past three years and eight months, the plaintiff's husband has repeated this goal to many people including the staff at the nursing home where his wife now resides. After the hearing the jury's verdict, the plaintiff's husband, who was present throughout the trial, shed tears of joy. He stated, "I can bring my wife home now".
At the conclusion of the trial, although the plaintiffs were only allowed to submit $6,000 in medical bills, the jury returned a verdict of $700,000. Attorney Munley said, "Every now and then a lawyer gets an opportunity to right a wrong in society. This was one of those times."
