Family wins $4.85 million for nursing home death

MONROE - The family of a Newport, Mich., man who died in 2002 of a morphine overdose while undergoing physical therapy at a local nursing home has won a $4.85 million civil judgment against the facility.

A three-week medical malpractice trial against Mercy Memorial Nursing Center in Frenchtown Township ended Friday with the jury finding that a doctor and nurses were negligent in the death of Burr Needham.

The Wayne County medical examiner said the May 2, 2002, death of Mr. Needham was caused by acute morphine intoxication and ruled his death a homicide.

The jury, which began hearing testimony June 7 in the courtroom of Judge Joseph Costello, Jr., determined that nursing home staff were professionally negligent in the care and treatment of the 76-year-old man.

Mr. Needham's family filed a civil lawsuit in 2005 against the home, contending that Dr. Arun Gupta and five nurses were responsible for the overdose of the painkiller administered to Mr. Needham after he entered the center April 26, 2002.

His wife, Betty Needham, died in 2007 of cancer. The couple had been married about 10 years and didn't have children. However, the couple had children from previous marriages.

Court records showed that the jury awarded $3 million of the judgement to Mrs. Needham for the noneconomic loss of society and companionship she experienced in the loss of her husband.

The panel decided that Mr. Needham should get $1.5 million for the pain and suffering he experienced in the nursing home.

The remaining $350,000 was awarded to the family to pay for damages that Mrs. Needham incurred, including burial costs and the loss of gifts and valuables she would have received until her death on Oct. 24, 2007.

Gregory Wix, an attorney representing the Needham family, said Mr. Needham entered the nursing home from an Ann Arbor hospital to receive physical therapy for a nondisplaced hip fracture.

Mr. Wix said documentation showed that nursing home staff couldn't account for morphine given to Mr. Needham.

"The document stuck out like a sore thumb. It clearly shows morphine was unaccounted for on his chart. He died of morphine intoxication," said Mr. Wix, a lawyer with the Southfield, Mich., law firm Fieger, Fieger, Kenney, Johnson & Giroux.

Jackie Swearingen, a spokesman for Mercy Memorial Hospital System, which owns and operates the nursing center, said the jury verdict would be appealed.

"Previous investigations by the state of Michigan and the Monroe County Sheriff's Department were dismissed and did not result in charges," she said in a statement. "MMNC maintains that the nursing staff acted appropriately in the care of Mr. Needham at all times."

Judge Costello dismissed the lawsuit in 2008 in a summary judgement decision. However, a three-judge panel on Michigan Court of Appeals reinstated the complaint in January, 2009, and ordered the case to go to trial.

Contact Mark Reiter at:

markreiter@theblade.com

or 419-724-6199.