Three separate nursing homes – Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, Beach Garden Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, and St. John’s Episcopal Hospital – received a lawsuit last week from Joann Smith, who is acting on behalf of the estate of her mother, Lucy Davis.
Smith filed the claims on Wednesday in the County of Queens for the Supreme Court of the State of New York, alleging malpractice against all three nursing homes for their role in her mother’s death, which occurred on April 27, 2018.
Lucy Davis was reportedly a patient at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center (JHMC) from February 2, 2018, to February 16, 2018. After her stay at JHMC, she was transferred to Beach Garden Rehabilitation and Nursing Center where she stayed until April 17, 2018. Following this, she was admitted to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital where she stayed until her death on April 27, 2018. Smith is advocating on behalf of Davis and claimed the defendants were ill-equipped to care for her.
The complaint maintained that JHMC “held itself out as a hospital duly qualified and capable of rendering adequate medical services, including treatment/surgery for the public and for such purposes as required by hired doctors, nurses, and technicians, attendants and other personnel.” It expressed similar claims from the other two nursing homes. Smith asserted, however, that they allowed her to develop decubitus ulcers, did not properly care for her basic needs, allowed her condition to worsen before making a diagnosis, did not complete proper testing, and ultimately did not conform to acceptable standards of care.
Due to the above actions the defendants engaged in, the plaintiff was “forced to undergo medical treatment, incur medical expenses, suffer disfigurement, disability, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life and death.”
The complaint cited violations of New York Public Health Law, gross negligence, unjust enrichment, and more. The plaintiff is seeking damages in excess of the jurisdictional limit for all eight causes of action, attorney’s fees, punitive damages, and a trial by jury.
The plaintiff is represented by the Law Office of Steven S. Siegel.
