Each day families throughout the Pittsburgh area make the difficult decision to move their loved ones into an assisted living or skilled nursing facilities. In many cases the individuals moved to such facilities are elderly and have a myriad of medical conditions. In other cases however, the stay is short while the individual recovers from a medical condition.

While often the experience a family has with the nursing home is good, there are times when the treatment is less than what is expected. In some instances subpar treatment leads to injuries, in the worst cases, death.

A Pittsburgh area family has filed a lawsuit against Beaver County, along with several care givers and the private company, Friendship Ridge, for which they worked. The lawsuit is due to the death of a 40-year-old man, described as severely mentally disabled, in April 2011. His death came the day after he was involuntarily committed to the care giving facility.

According to the complaint filed, the man's death was the result of several failures or mistakes on the part of care givers. The first was that the man was not allowed to use his machine that helped with the sleep apnea he suffered from. Next, individuals employed by the facility gave him the wrong medications before then giving him the ones meant for him. Last, individuals at the facility did not contact an emergency medical provider once the medication error was discovered.

According to the lawsuit, it was the medication that caused the man to stop breathing and then ultimately die.

Because the lawsuit claims that the deceased man's civil rights were violated, the case has been transferred to a federal court. We will continue to monitor the case and provide updates as they become available.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Beaver County family files suit over Friendship Ridge death," Rich Lord, Oct. 22, 2012

• The unexpected loss of a loved one due to the negligence of others is devastating to those left behind. Our firm handles similar situations to the one discussed in this post. If you would like to learn more about our practice, please visit our Pittsburgh nursing home neglect page.