The family of a 77-year-old resident who died while living at a Colorado nursing home received $5.5 million in damages on Friday, in what was believed to be a record-setting verdict.
The family of Sophia Alcon claimed she suffered “repeated instances of abuse and neglect” between her admission to Life Care Center of Pueblo in Pueblo, CO, in April 2013 and her death in November of that year. Alcon’s family filed a lawsuit in January 2015, claiming the facility’s neglect led to multiple infections, bed sores, unexplained bruising, dehydration, malnutrition and ultimately her death.
George Alcon, Sophia’s son who originally brought the lawsuit, was unanimously awarded $500,000 in damages related to Alcon’s death, $57,000 in economic damages for negligence and another $5 million in punitive damages.
Those damages are believed to be “record-setting” for a wrongful death suit against a nursing home, a Reddick Law attorney said in a press release. Our attorney also noted that no corporate representatives or witnesses appeared at the trial on behalf of the facility’s parent company, Life Care Centers of America Inc., which may have impacted the jury’s award.