A man who died as a resident of Warner's Home for the Aged in Altoona, PA, has had his estate awarded over $50,000 in a Blair County court last week in what has been considered a clear case of nursing home negligence and wrongful death.

Blair County President Judge Jolene G. Kopriva handed down her decision to award the family of Kenneth McGuire, an 80-year-old man who lived at Warner's Home for the Aged for nearly five years, an amount of $50,806. The family testified that Mr. McGuire lived self-sufficiently up until the final six months of his life, at which time he sustained a series injuries that included bed sores on much of his body and buttocks. In addition, according to forensic pathologist Dr. Harry Kamerow, McGuire was also malnourished at the time of his death. 

The Pennsylvania Attorney General charged the Warner Home's owner and two of her employees with neglect of a dependent person. All three entered separate pleas. The owner and one of her employees received short prison sentences and the other employee is currently on probation.

Courtroom official say that in each of the three separate hearings, Mr. McGuire's daughter gave a heartfelt statement about the unnecessary suffering her father endured in the final months of his life. She is also the one who filed the suit against Warner's, its owner, and employees.   

Warner's Home for the Aged has been closed down by state officials since the McGuire incident. The owner and her two employees charged in the case will never be allowed to work as health care professionals in the state of Pennsylvania again.

Source: Altoona Mirror, "Family gets $50,000 in death at Warner's" 31 August 2013