HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (Legal Newsline) – An Arkansas rehabilitation center is facing a wrongful death lawsuit that says it waited 12 hours after a man recovering from hip surgery fell to get him to a hospital.
Catherine Simpson filed the case in Garland County Circuit Court on behalf of the estate of George Simpson against St. Vincent Hot Springs Rehabilitation Hospital. George was a known fall risk after breaking his hip who required a two-person assist for transfers, the suit says.
But he fell on Jan. 11, 2020, and rebroke his hip, the suit says. He underwent a new surgery and died 15 days after that second break.
St. Vincent was understaffed and didn’t follow the proper protocol when moving Simpson from his bed, the suit says.
“Defendants knowingly established staffing levels that created recklessly high resident-to-staff ratios, including high resident-to-nurse ratios and high resident-to-nurse aid ratios,” the complaint says.
“Defendants knowingly disregarded patient acuity levels while making staffing decisions, and also knowingly disregarded the minimum time required by the staff to perform essential day-to-day functions and treatments.”
St. Vincent is also accused of failing to ensure Simpson’s quality of care and life. The plaintiff’s lawyer is Melody Piazza of Trammell Piazza in Little Rock.