October 25, 2012

The family of a 40-year-old Ambridge, Pennsylvania, man filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home where the man was a resident. Times Online reports the man died on April 30, which the lawsuit alleges was caused by the negligence of the Brighton Township facility and its staff.

The victim was admitted to Friendship Ridge nursing home after the state’s courts found him to be mentally disabled and in need of constant care. On the night he entered the facility, he was given medications that were intended for another patient and were known to suppress the central nervous system.

These medications reacted negatively with the man’s pre-existing condition of sleep apnea by making it difficult to breathe. Since the man was never given his CPAP machine—which is an apparatus he used to help him breathe as he slept—he suffocated and was found dead the next morning.

The Pennsylvania Wrongful Death lawsuit alleges the facility violated the man’s rights by not giving him access to his CPAP device and was also negligent by not giving him immediate medical assistance when the medication error was recognized by staff. Instead, management told nurses to “keep it on the shift.”

The Pennsylvania Personal Injury Lawyers with Lundy Law understand how difficult it can be to suddenly lose a loved one because of a medical error and would like to send their condolences to the family and friends of the victim.