Evans v. Heritage Manor Stratmore Nursing & Rehab. Ctr., L.L.C.

244 So. 3d 737
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 27, 2017
DocketNo. 51,651–CA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 244 So. 3d 737 (Evans v. Heritage Manor Stratmore Nursing & Rehab. Ctr., L.L.C.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evans v. Heritage Manor Stratmore Nursing & Rehab. Ctr., L.L.C., 244 So. 3d 737 (La. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

PITMAN, J.

Plaintiff John Mack Evans, Sr., appeals the judgment of the trial court which sustained the exception of prescription filed by Defendant Heritage Manor Stratmore Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, L.L.C., et al.1 ("Heritage Manor"), and dismissed *739his suit for medical malpractice and other actions. For the following reasons, we reverse.

FACTS

Plaintiff, age 77, sustained a massive stroke at home in November 2011. The effects of this stroke were many, including left side paralysis, affected speech, inability to walk, incontinence, emotional and mental anguish and damage and erratic behavior. After his stroke, Plaintiff became easily agitated and verbally and physically aggressive. He is bedridden and requires assistance in transferring to and from his wheelchair.

Following his stroke, Plaintiff was hospitalized for several months and then was admitted to Heritage Manor on February 21, 2012, by his treating physician, Dr. Robert Hernandez, for rehabilitation in the skilled nursing facility. Dr. Hernandez, an internal medicine specialist, is the medical director of Heritage Manor, as well as The Glen, another nursing home in Shreveport. Dr. Hernandez's treatment for Plaintiff at the skilled nursing facility was to include, but not be limited to, occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy. Because Plaintiff was paralyzed on his left side, Dr. Hernandez's standing orders were to turn Plaintiff often and to keep him clean and dry to prevent the development of decubitus ulcers, pressure sores and complications which would jeopardize his rehabilitative care.

On March 14, 2012, Samantha Edwards, a certified nursing assistant and employee of Heritage Manor, entered Plaintiff's room around 5:00 a.m. to change his diaper and T-shirt, which were wet with urine. Plaintiff protested her insistence that she change him and he resisted care. Rather than seeking assistance from an LPN on duty, Ms. Edwards persisted and became more aggressive in her effort to change Plaintiff. Her efforts to force care on him resulted in Plaintiff taking a swing with his right hand and striking her. In what Ms. Edwards characterized as an immediate reflex type response, she struck Plaintiff with her fist and long acrylic nails on and around his right eye.

As a result of the incident, Plaintiff sustained lacerations and scratches above his right eyebrow in and around his right eye. His wound bled and there was bruising around his right eye and eyebrow with a red area in the shape of the letter "C" beginning midway from the right edge of his eyebrow and continuing to the top of his right cheekbone. He also had bruising under his right eye and on the inner aspect of his nose. Ms. Edwards was immediately discharged from employment at Heritage Manor.

After the incident, Plaintiff was afraid of the caretakers at Heritage Manor and announced he would protect himself and strike them if he was not treated appropriately. His behavior worsened and he became physically abusive, aggressive and difficult to control. Allegedly, because of the adverse effect of the incident on Plaintiff's emotional and psychological condition, his treating physician transferred him to Brentwood Hospital in May 2012 to be treated by a psychiatrist.

The State Department of Health and Human Resources ("DHH") investigated the incident and found Heritage Manor violated regulations in several respects, including failing to obtain references on Ms. Edwards before hiring her and failing to exercise reasonable supervision to prevent residents from being injured. The DHH discovered that Ms. Edwards had disclosed in her employment application that she had previously been convicted of simple battery and that Heritage Manor had failed to follow its policy of not employing any person convicted of a crime.

*740Ms. Edwards was questioned about the incident and originally stated that Plaintiff was injured when she pulled his T-shirt over his head while attempting to change him; however, she later corrected her statement in a second interview with the Shreveport Police and stated that "when he struck me, my reflex-I reflex and I hit him back." She claimed she did not intend to injure him and regretted her action; it was simply an immediate response to his striking her. She was eventually cited for battery of the infirm. It is unclear what came of the citation, but she testified at a deposition that the "arrest" was later expunged from her record.

Because Plaintiff had been receiving medical care and treatment at Heritage Manor at the time of the incident on February 18, 2013, and the incident occurred during the course of medical care, he filed a request for a medical review panel in accordance with the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act ("LMMA"). In an opinion dated September 8, 2014, the medical review panel stated:

The panel finds that Heritage Manor did fail to adequately vet the ACNA for past history and employment record and as such bears part of the blame for placing her in the situation where she struck Mr. Evans. However, the action of hitting Mr. Evans was the ACNA's action alone. The resulting injury from this physical contact, which was a laceration above the right eye, is related to this incident. However, no long-term complications, change in behavior, or other detrimental effects resulted from the incident. The patient's behavior after the incident was essentially the same as his behavior before the incident and his overall medical course is what would have been expected if the incident had not occurred.

A supplemental opinion was rendered on November 3, 2014, and the medical review panel stated:

The panel finds that Edwards was an employee of Heritage Manor when the conduct that is the subject of this proceeding occurred. The panel finds that the conduct of Edwards failed to comply with the appropriate standard of care. That conduct caused the injuries to the patient, as described in the panel's September 8, 2014, Opinion. Thus both Heritage Manor and Edwards were at fault, causing the injuries, as described in the September 8, 2014, Opinion.

On December 2, 2014, Plaintiff filed suit against Heritage Manor and alleged he was due damages under the LMMA, as well as for breach of fiduciary duty, failure to provide the care for which he had contracted and failure to provide sufficient training for staff and training of all rights and protection due patients under the Louisiana Nursing Home Bill of Rights ("LNHBR"), all of which caused injury to him. Heritage Manor answered and denied all allegations. It also alleged in its answer that at all times, it was a qualified health care provider pursuant to the LMMA and that to the extent any of Plaintiff's claims constituted "medical malpractice" within the meaning of the LMMA, any liability on its part was limited pursuant to that act.

On August 19, 2016, Plaintiff filed a motion for partial summary judgment on liability in its medical malpractice claim and attached the following 12 exhibits: (1) the opinions of the medical review panel; (2) an affidavit of Sandra Furguson, an RN expert and investigator for DHH with attachments; (3) Dr. Hernandez's affidavit; (4) the deposition of Shreveport Detective Holmes with exhibits; (5) the deposition of Samantha Edwards with exhibits; (6) portions of the deposition of Wesley Pepitone, Administrator of Heritage Manor;

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Bluebook (online)
244 So. 3d 737, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evans-v-heritage-manor-stratmore-nursing-rehab-ctr-llc-lactapp-2017.