Jury Awards $29M in Elder Abuse Case

Sacramento, CA: A lawsuit brought by the daughter of an elderly woman who died from an infected bed sore has been settled, with the jury awarding $29.1 million in damages.

In March 2005, Frances Tanner, 79, moved into the Colonial Healthcare nursing home. In September, she fell and broke a hip. She died on October 7 in hospital.

Tanner's daughter alleged that the nursing home failed to timely treat her mother's hip and bed sore due to understaffing. She also charged that the parent company had a culture of putting profits ahead of patient care. The suit also alleged that Tanner, who had Alzheimer's dementia, was not being regularly repositioned while at Colonial Healthcare, where the bed sore broke out.