Jury Awards $550,000 To Widow Of Alzheimer's Patient Mistreated In Florida Nursing Home

27 Jul 2007

A jury in Tampa, Florida, has determined that a widow should receive more than $555,000 to compensate her for injuries her late husband suffered while living at a Tampa nursing home.

George Kramer had Alzheimer's disease when he was admitted as a patient to the Brian Center nursing home.

According to the pleadings in the lawsuit and the evidence at trial the nursing home told Alice Kramer it could provide a secure unit for her husband. Based upon this assurance George Kramer was a resident of the nursing home for five weeks in 1996.

There was evidence presented at the trial that Kramer was left with feces in his diaper, wasn't shaved or bathed, and was dressed in someone else's clothes.

Kramer also fell from a first-floor window and broke his hip while trying to get out of his room.

He never walked again and died of natural causes the day after Christmas, 1996, eight months later.

His widow sued the Brian Center and its corporate owners in 1997. After a three-day trial, a Hillsborough County jury found that the center had violated Kramer's rights.