Fall, Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed vs. Arden Courts of West Palm Beach

Our West Palm Beach assisted living abuse attorneys have filed a lawsuit against Arden Courts of West Palm Beach on behalf of Denis O’Brien and his family. The lawsuit alleges that Denis O’Brien was not an appropriate candidate for assisted living and that, as a result of his admission into the facility, he fell two times within a few days of his admission. You can read the full complaint in this Arden Courts of West Palm Beach lawsuit below.

Our lawyers regularly sue Arden Courts for falls and wrongful death. If you had a loved one fall victim to neglect or abuse inside an assisted living facility like Arden Courts of West Palm Beach, contact our skilled trial attorneys today to learn more about your legal rights.

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Publicly Filed Arden Courts of West Palm Beach Lawsuit

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 15TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA

CASE NO.: 50-2018-CA-007804-XXXX-MB

VALERIE O’BRIEN, as Personal Representative of the Estate of DENIS O’BRIEN,

Plaintiff
vs.

ARDEN COURTS OF W. PALM BEACH FL, LLC d/b/a ARDEN COURTS OF WEST PALM BEACH,

Defendant.
_______________________________________/

COMPLAINT FOR DAMAGES

COMES NOW, Plaintiff, VALERIE O’BRIEN, as Personal Representative of the Estate of DENIS O’BRIEN, sues Defendant, ARDEN COURTS OF W. PALM BEACH FL, LLC d/b/a ARDEN COURTS OF WEST PALM BEACH (hereinafter “ARDEN COURTS”), and further alleges:

GENERAL FACTS

1. At all material times, the Plaintiff, VALERIE O’BRIEN is appointed as the Personal Representative of the Estate of DENIS O’BRIEN.
2. At all material times, VALERIE O’BRIEN is the wife of DENIS O’BRIEN.
3. At all material times, DENIS O’BRIEN sought assisted living care at ARDEN COURTS OF WEST PALM BEACH at 2330 Village Blvd. (hereafter “the assisted living facility” or “the facility”) in Palm Beach County, Florida.
4. At all material times, Defendant, ARDEN COURTS was a Corporation authorized to do business in the State of Florida and to operate an assisted living facility under the name of ARDEN COURTS OF WEST PALM BEACH in West Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach County, and is subject to the provisions of Chapter 429.
5. Venue is appropriate in this action as the events giving rise to the cause of action occurred in Palm Beach County, Florida, the subject assisted living facility is located in Palm Beach County, Florida, one of more of the Defendants operate and do business in Palm Beach County, Florida with an agent in Palm Beach County, Florida and the Plaintiff resides in Palm Beach County, Florida.
6. The amount in controversy exceeds the sum of Fifteen Thousand ($15,000.00) Dollars exclusive of costs and fees and is within the jurisdiction of this court.
7. All conditions precedent to bring this action have been met or waived. The undersigned certifies a good faith basis for bringing this action.
8. This Complaint is being filed within the applicable statute of limitations period.

FACTS GIVING RISE TO THIS ACTION

9. Denis O’Brien suffered from dementia and, as a result, his wife Valerie cared for him at their home. At just 72 years of age, Valerie feared Denis was too young to be isolated in their home.
10. Valerie wanted to see if Denis would benefit from socializing inside a long term care facility for a few weeks. She was hesitant to place him inside a facility but decided to try it for a short term period.
11. Prior to his admission into the Defendant assisted living facility, Valerie and her daughter sat down with a facility supervisor from Arden Courts.
12. During this meeting, Valerie questioned whether the facility could keep Denis safe, as he was prone to falls. Additionally, Valerie gave the facility supervisor specific instructions on how she prevents Denis from falling. She also gave the facility supervisor Denis’ prior medical records, which contained an 1823 form signed by a doctor just days prior to the meeting with Arden Courts.
13. The facility supervisor failed to listen to Valerie’s instructions and failed to review and/or intentionally disregarded the records provided. Contained in the records provided was an 1823 form which states:

Severely disoriented to time, place + person. Poor recent and remote memory
. . .
Get very easily distracted, so does NOT do well in areas with loud noises or many people
. . .
In your professional opinion, can this individual’s need be met in as assisted living facility, which is not a medical, nursing or psychiatric facility? Yes___ No_X_

– 1823 Form on Inappropriateness of ALF, Signed by Adam K. Berry, MD 4/28/17, Ex. A

14. Despite having medical records which clearly indicate Denis O’Brien was an inappropriate candidate for an assisted living facility, within minutes into their consultation, the ARDEN COURTS representative told the O’Brien family Denis was a ‘perfect’ candidate for their assisted living facility.
15. Despite having medical records which clearly indicate Denis O’Brien was an inappropriate candidate for an assisted living facility, ARDEN COURTS admitted him into their assisted living facility, charging the family $5,450 per month for a private room. Annually, this is $65,400 per year.
16. Denis O’Brien moved into the Arden Courts assisted living facility on May 4, 2017.
17. Within 60 hours of his admission, Denis O’Brien suffered a preventable fall at ARDEN COURTS OF WEST PALM BEACH, resulting in a head injury. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
18. Denis O’Brien was re-admitted from the hospital into the assisted living facility. Within hours of his readmission, he suffered another preventable fall at ARDEN COURTS OF WEST PALM BEACH, resulting in another head injury. He was taken again by ambulance to the hospital.
19. Denis O’Brien was then placed on hospice due to his fall-related injuries.
20. Denis O’Brien passed away on 10/2/2017.
21. Upon receiving the Defendant’s Admission records, a DNR form, signed by Dr. Adam Berry on 4/28/17 is included in the chart. Glaringly, the 1823 form signed by the same doctor on the same day is missing, even though Valerie O’Brien provided both to the Arden Courts representative at the pre-admission consultation.

WRONGFUL DEATH DAMAGES

22. DENIS O’BRIEN wrongfully died on March 16, 2017, as a direct and proximate result of the Defendants’ negligence, more fully described above and below.
23. As a direct and proximate result of the rights violations outlined above and below, the Estate of DENIS O’BRIEN and the survivors of the Estate, including but not limited to VALERIE O’BRIEN (wife) and Denis O’Brien’s surviving children, are entitled to all damages recoverable for the wrongful death caused by the Defendants, as alleged above and below, including but not limited to:
a. Damages for DENIS O’BRIEN’s bodily injury, pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, mental anguish, loss of the capacity for the enjoyment of life, expensive hospitalization, the value of reasonable assisted living facility services and care provided to DENIS O’BRIEN, medical and nursing care and treatment and aggravation of previous existing conditions, from the time of his injury until the time of his death;
b. Medical bills and expenses;
c. Funeral expenses;
d. Loss of Net Accumulations;
e. VALERIE O’BRIEN and the decedent’s other survivors, the children of the deceased, have suffered mental pain and suffering which will continue for the rest of their life, and they have suffered the loss of services and support of their loved one, DENIS O’BRIEN, and have incurred medical and funeral expenses as a result of DENIS O’BRIEN’s death, and have suffered the loss of DENIS O’BRIEN’s love and companionship.

SURVIVAL DAMAGES

24. Alternatively, if these injuries did not cause DENIS O’BRIEN’s death, the Estate of DENIS O’BRIEN claims all damages recoverable under a survival action, including but not limited to the non-economic and economic damages of the decedent for bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, mental anguish, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, expense of hospitalization, medical and nursing care and treatment, and aggravation of a previously existing condition, from time of injury of DENIS O’BRIEN to the time of his death. These survival damages occurred as a direct and proximate result of the negligence of the Defendants’ outlined above and below.

COUNT I – CLAIM AGAINST ARDEN COURTS RESULTING IN DEATH

25. Plaintiffs re-allege paragraphs 1 through 23 and further allege:
26. At all material times, ARDEN COURTS was the licensee of the assisted living facility.
27. At all material times ARDEN COURTS owed a duty to DENIS O’BRIEN to provide reasonable assisted living facility care, pursuant to Fla. Stat. Sec. 429.
28. Defendant, ARDEN COURTS, as the licensee of the facility was responsible and liable for the nurses, management and/or staff that cared for DENIS O’BRIEN because they employed the nurses, management and/or staff at the facility.
29. Additionally, or in the alternative, Defendant, ARDEN COURTS as the licensee of the facility was responsible and liable for the nurses, management and/or staff at the facility that cared for DENIS O’BRIEN because they had actual control of their actions, and the right to control their actions, and thus those persons were agents of ARDEN COURTS.
30. The negligent conduct of the nurses, management and/or staff of the facility, as described below, was performed in the course and scope of the employment and/or agency with ARDEN COURTS.
31. Accordingly, ARDEN COURTS is responsible for the negligent conduct of the nurses, management and/or staff.
32. ARDEN COURTS, through its employees, agents and apparent agents, including but not limited to its R.N.s, L.P.N.s, C.N.A.s, management and other personnel violated DENIS O’BRIEN’s rights protected under Chapter 429 for Assisted living facility residents by providing negligent and substandard assisted living facility care as follows:
a. Accepting DENIS O’BRIEN as a resident, when management knew he was not an appropriate candidate for assisted living;
b. Ignoring and/or intentionally disregarding the prior medical records and prior medical history of DENIS O’BRIEN;
c. Failing to follow state and federal regulations to protect assisted living residents, including but not limited to accepting a resident who was not safe to reside in an assisted living facility;
d. Creating a corporate policy, incentive structure, bonus/raise benefits and facility environment to promote the financial interests of the facility owners over the safety of the residents;
e. Failure to appropriately assess appropriateness for residency;
f. Failure to properly assess fall risk;
g. Failure to implement necessary fall precautions;
h. Failure to follow through on necessary fall precautions;
i. Failure to prevent falls of DENIS O’BRIEN while he resided in the facility;
j. Failure to properly implement fall precautions that were reasonable and necessary under the circumstances.
k. Failure to prevent DENIS O’BRIEN’s falls;
l. Failure to notify the family of DENIS O’BRIEN of falls and injuries;
m. Failure to timely provide medical attention to DENIS O’BRIEN after he fell;
n. Failure to report the falls of DENIS O’BRIEN;
o. Failure to communicate to physicians that DENIS O’BRIEN was in pain;
p. Failure to send the resident to a higher care facility;
q. Failing to provide reasonable assisted living facility care; and
r. Failing to act reasonably under all the circumstances.

33. As a proximate result of the Defendant’s deprivation of and infringement upon DENIS O’BRIEN’s Chapter 429 rights as alleged in this Complaint, which includes the above alleged negligence, DENIS O’BRIEN wrongfully died.
WHEREFORE VALERIE O’BRIEN, as Personal Representative of the Estate of DENIS O’BRIEN claims all recoverable damages against Defendant, ARDEN COURTS, and demands trial by jury.

COUNT II – ALTERNATE SURVIVAL ACTION AGAINST ARDEN COURTS

34. Plaintiffs re-allege paragraphs 1 through 21, 24 and further allege:
35. This survival action is made in the alternative to the above wrongful death claim.
ARDEN COURTS, through its employees, agents and apparent agents, including but not limited to its R.N.s, L.P.N.s, C.N.A.s, management and other personnel violated DENIS O’BRIEN’s rights protected under Chapter 429 for Assisted living facility residents by providing negligent and substandard assisted living facility care as follows:
a. Accepting DENIS O’BRIEN as a resident, when management knew he was not an appropriate candidate for assisted living;
b. Ignoring and/or intentionally disregarding the prior medical records and prior medical history of DENIS O’BRIEN;
c. Failing to follow state and federal regulations to protect assisted living residents, including but not limited to accepting a resident who was not safe to reside in an assisted living facility;
d. Creating a corporate policy, incentive structure, bonus/raise benefits and facility environment to promote the financial interests of the facility owners over the safety of the residents;
e. Failure to appropriately assess appropriateness for residency;
f. Failure to properly assess fall risk;
g. Failure to implement necessary fall precautions;
h. Failure to follow through on necessary fall precautions;
i. Failure to prevent falls of DENIS O’BRIEN while he resided in the facility;
j. Failure to properly implement fall precautions that were reasonable and necessary under the circumstances.
k. Failure to prevent DENIS O’BRIEN’s falls;
l. Failure to notify the family of DENIS O’BRIEN of falls and injuries;
m. Failure to timely provide medical attention to DENIS O’BRIEN after he fell;
n. Failure to report the falls of DENIS O’BRIEN;
o. Failure to communicate to physicians that DENIS O’BRIEN was in pain;
p. Failure to send the resident to a higher care facility;
q. Failing to provide reasonable assisted living facility care; and
r. Failing to act reasonably under all the circumstances.

36. As a direct and proximate result of the above negligence, DENIS O’BRIEN fell and seriously injured himself.
37. If this fall did not cause the death of DENIS O’BRIEN, the Plaintiff alleges all damages recoverable under a survival action, including but not limited to the non-economic damages of decedent for bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering, disability, disfigurement, mental anguish, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, expense of hospitalization, medical and nursing care and treatment, and aggravation of a previously existing condition, from time of injury of DENIS O’BRIEN to the time of his death.
WHEREFORE VALERIE O’BRIEN, as Personal Representative of the Estate of DENIS O’BRIEN, claims all recoverable damages against Defendant, ARDEN COURTS, and demands trial by jury.
I HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing has been filed with the Court, this 19th day of June, 2018.
/s/ Michael J. Brevda, Esq.
Michael J. Brevda, Esq.
Florida Bar No.: 084048
Senior Justice Law Firm
1903 S. Congress Ave.
Suite 380
Boynton Beach, Florida 33426
Phone: (561) 717-0817
Email: eservice@seniorjustice.com
Attorneys for Plaintiff