A resident’s family suing a nursing home and hospice facility for medical malpractice and wrongful death can use records from previous state investigations, including survey citations, a court of appeals has ruled.
The Louisiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday to make the investigation records admissible after the Naomi Heights Nursing Home & Rehabilitation Center and Guardian Hospice Care in Alexandria, LA, appealed a previous decision. Bloomberg Law first reported on the ruling.
The facilities argued the records from investigations conducted by the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals were inadmissible as “hearsay evidence.”
The court disagreed, noting an exemption is an “investigation of a particular complaint, case or incident, including an investigation into the facts and circumstances on which the present proceeding is based.”
The Louisiana DHH conducted unannounced investigations of both the nursing home and hospice facility in 2013, and cited it for various deficiencies, including failure to treat pressure ulcers properly.
The lawsuit was filed by Yvonne Sawyers and Patricia Hall on behalf of their mother, who died in November 2013. They allege the providers’ lack of medical care led to their mother contacting a stage four ulcer and sepsis.
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Previous survey citations allowed in medical malpractice nursing home case, court rules
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