$1.83 Million Jury Verdict for Nursing Home’s Failure to Prevent and Treat Pressure Sores

Morley Sprague was 57 and suffering from end-stage multiple sclerosis and had a history of urinary tract infections (UTI) and degenerative joint disease. After being hospitalized for treatment for sepsis and UTI, he was admitted to the North Canyon Care Center, a nursing home that offered wound care services.

Unfortunately, within a week, Sprague’s two existing pressure ulcers worsened from Stage I and II to Stage IV. In addition, he developed a Stage IV pressure sore on his right buttock.

After he left the nursing home, he required antibiotics and other continued medical care for his wounds, which failed to heal. Two years after his discharge, Sprague died of sepsis that resulted from an infected pressure ulcer. He was survived by his wife and three adult children.

His wife sued the nursing home claiming that staff there chose not to prevent and treat the pressure ulcers and sores. The Sprague lawsuit asserted that the defendant nursing home should have provided Sprague with a special mattress and ROHO wheelchair cushion and limited the amount of time that he sat in his wheelchair. In addition, the Sprague family claimed that the defendant nursing home did not turn Sprague every two hours despite his known high risk for developing pressure ulcers.

The jury signed a verdict for $1,830,000 from which the defendant has appealed.

It is not known whether the appeal has reached its final stage. The attorneys successfully representing the Sprague family at trial were Norman Younker, Ashton Hyde and John MacFarlane.

At trial, the Sprague attorneys presented an expert in nursing.

Sprague v. Avalon Care Center, No. 140908104 (Utah Dist. Ct. Salt Lake County).

Kreisman Law Offices has been handling nursing home abuse lawsuits, nursing home negligence cases, bed sore lawsuits and hospital negligence cases for individuals, families and loved ones who have been harmed, injured or died as a result of the carelessness or negligence of a medical provider for more than 40 years in and around Chicago, Cook County and its surrounding areas, including Lansing, Flossmoor, Tinley Park, Richton Park, Evanston, Elmhurst, Arlington Heights, Cicero, Rolling Meadows, Hoffman Estates, Chicago (Streeterville, Jefferson Park, Edgebrook, Old Town Triangle, Hyde Park, University of Illinois Chicago, Wrigleyville, Bridgeport, Canaryville, Chinatown), Calumet City, Worth, Alsip, Blue Island and Winnetka, Ill.