Martin v. Golden Living Center
This nursing home wrongful death lawsuit was filed on filed on February 2, 2016. It alleges that a Cumberland nursing home gave a resident another patient’s medication which caused him to die six hours later.
Summary of Plaintiff’s Allegations
This is a nursing home medication error case. A man is a resident of the Golden Living Center located in Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland. Golden Living Center is a nursing home operated by Beverly Enterprises – Maryland, a California corporation. Golden Living has 200 nursing homes around the country and four in Maryland, all in the northern part of Maryland near the Pennsylvania border.
A resident of Golden Living Center for seven months appears healthy, although it is clear he some cognitive issues. (The Complaint says he could respond to his name and open his eyes.) He shows no signs or symptoms of distress and has been observed as alert and talkative over the past several days. At 8:45 p.m. he is given another resident’s medication.
After determination of the medication error, the only treatment the nursing home gives the resident is blood pressure medication. The man’s daughter is notified at approximately 9:15 p.m. that there has been a medication error in the form of a single medication having been given to her father. It turns out the medical error involved five different medications in unknown doses:
- Lantus (insulin glargine);
- Namenda (Memantine);
- Arciept (an Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor);
- Lasix (Furosemide); and
- Hydralazine (Apresoline).
The victim’s daughter files a medical negligence lawsuit and a wrongful death claim in Allegany County. She alleges that Golden Living Center violated the standard of care by administering medications prescribed to another resident, resulting in her father’s death.
Jurisdiction
- Allegany County
Defendants
- Beverly Enterprises – Maryland, Inc. d/b/a Golden Living Center – Cumberland
Negligence
- Administered another patient’s medication
Specific Counts Pled
- Medical negligence
- Wrongful death
Additional Comments
The question unanswered in this Complaint: why did this man die? You have to believe it was related to the medication because six hours later is too much of a temporal coincidence. But there is no expert report filed with the Complaint. - Certainly, it could have been a drug overdose but presumably, they gave this man’s someone else’s medication. So if it was the correct dosage for someone else is probably was not an overdose. It could have been a contraindicated for a condition that he had. Or maybe it was a drug interaction. Either way, this is something you need to sort and get an expert opinion on before filing a lawsuit or you are playing catch up.
- Most medication error cases we see in nursing homes involve blood thinners, anti-seizure medications, or insulin.
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More Malpractice Claim Information
- What are the most common types of nursing home medication errors?
- Get more information on every Maryland nursing home, including the Cumberland nursing home at issue in this case.
- Take a look at what we know about every Maryland nursing home
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- Learn more about surgical malpractice cases in Maryland and the settlement and trial value of certain kinds of claims.
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