Lawsuit filed in Southside assisted living death

The estate of a woman who died at a Southside Assisted Living Facility filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the facility and two employees facing criminal charges regarding the woman’s care.

Joanna Neal, representing the estate of her mother, Lois Pruitt, filed the lawsuit for wrongful death against Assistcare, Inc., doing business as Woodland Place Assisted Living, and against its administrator, Caroline Renee Burton, and employee Brooke Tuck Ragsdale.

According to the lawsuit, Pruitt had lived at Woodland Place since 2014. When she was admitted, she suffered from dementia, but was otherwise in good condition of physical health.

“She had memory deficits and moderately impaired cognitive skills; however, she was able to communicate and express her basic needs and enjoyed her life,” the lawsuit states.

Neal paid the facility about $1,950 per month for assisted living services and care for her mother.

A hospice care nurse was employed by a separate entity this year to provide care and treatment while Pruitt continued to live at Woodland Place. The hospice nurse provided a comfort care kit to be kept at the facility, should Pruitt need comforting medications. It contained morphine and other drugs and sedative medications.

On June 19, 2018, Neal visited her mother and found Burton and Ragsdale in her mother’s room, along with the hospice comfort care kit, the lawsuit states.

“Immediately thereafter, Lois Pruitt’s health drastically declined,” the lawsuit contends. “It was later discovered that Burton and Ragsdale had administered a large dose of morphine to Lois Pruitt from the hospice comfort care kit.”

After administering the drug, neither Burton or Ragsdale attempted to contact medical professionals/emergency responders.

Neal learned of the “over-medication” June 21, the lawsuit states, when a Woodland Place employee informed her of the events and circumstances of June 19. She called law enforcement June 21 and her mother was taken that day to Gadsden Regional Medical Center. She died June 22, the lawsuit contends, “as a direct and proximate result of the over-medication of morphine and/or the delay of Burton and Ragsdale to notify medical professionals/emergency responders of Lois Pruitt’s declining condition.”

The police investigation into the incident resulted in criminal charges against Burton and Ragsdale: both were arrested June 22, charged with first-degree assault, and are free on $50,000 bond.

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Lawsuit filed in Southside assisted living death