CHERRYVILLE, N.C. — A family is blaming a Cherryville nursing home for the fall that killed their grandfather.
Family members said he broke his leg in that fall and wasn't taken to a hospital for 12 hours.
The family is now suing Carolina Care Center.
The suit claims staff at Carolina Care and Health Rehabilitation knew that Herman Devine was susceptible to falls, but they didn't protect him. They did nothing, even while watching him go down, according to the lawsuit.
The family’s attorney, Caleb Connor, said that led to his untimely death.
Devine was a soldier during World War II and later in life, he fought with health problems that left him blind in one eye.
His family decided to put him in the nursing home.
"He deserved a dignified existence,” Connor said. He deserved proper care and we contended he didn't receive that."
Herman fell multiple times and suffered skin tears, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims in January of 2016, staff saw the 98-year-old man fall and didn't intervene.
He suffered a fractured hip and staff members eventually helped him get into bed.
The suit said it was his painful screams hours later made them take notice.
He was taken to the hospital 12 hours after the fall, sent to hospice and died a week after the fall.
"They were devastated,” Connor said. “As I mentioned, (he) was a war hero. Somebody that they looked up to."
Channel 9 looked through Medicare documents and discovered the facility had eight quality-of-life care deficiencies in the last three years, including one case where a patient with intestinal issues was missed for more than a week.
Staff members failed to give him tests ordered by a doctor that would have detected the issue, the lawsuit claims.
Connor said issues at nursing homes happen more than most people realize.
"Unfortunately, this is an epidemic, you know?” Connor said. “It's sort of America's dirty secret."
Staff members at the facility had no comment Friday.
Connor submitted a request for videotaped depositions.
Cox Media Group
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