22M Personal Care Home Death Verdict (largest in KY)

Qualls v. Russell Alzheimer’s Investors, LLC d/b/a The Lantern at Morning Pointe Alzheimer’s Center of Excellence, Russell; Independent Healthcare Properties, LLC:

A Greenup County, Kentucky jury awarded a Circeo Law Firm plaintiff a verdict of 22 million dollars following a three-week trial in October 2024. The case regarded a deceased personal care home resident with Alzheimer’s dementia who suffered at least three falls at the facility within two weeks, the first resulting in a subdural hematoma, which did not show up on initial scans at the hospital. Upon return to the personal care home, the resident began showing signs and symptoms consistent with a brain bleed but the personal care home failed to respond to same. In failing to do so, they violated their own policies and procedures, which included an extensive head injury policy that would have required him to be seen by a doctor in response to his symptoms. By the time the facility finally responded to those symptoms and sent him to the hospital, it was too late, and he died the very next day. Evidence at trial put on display the extent to which the out-of-state corporations that owned and operated the facility were more focused more on financial outcomes than the well-being of the individuals in their facilities. The Greenup County jury held them accountable for the same, awarding both substantive compensatory and punitive damages in an effort to deter such conduct in the future. Circeo Law Firm is grateful to this family and these jurors for helping make Kentucky a safer place for the state’s most vulnerable, elderly residents.