CHARLESTON – A Kanawha County woman is suing a residential care facility where her disabled son lived, claiming they refuse to give her copies of his medical records.
Ruth Ann Bishop, as administratrix of the estate of Chad Dean Mullins, filed a lawsuit Feb. 29 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Voca Corporation of West Virginia Inc., doing business as ResCare Home Care, Beckley Agency, and Res-Care Inc., alleging .
According to the complaint, Mullins lived at ResCare Beckley between 1996 and 2014, where he received treatment for what the suit terms his blindness, retardation and autism. The suit says that on May 19, 2014, Mullins choked on a sandwich he was fed by ResCare staff, went into cardiac arrest and died five days later at age 39.
Although Bishop was appointed Mullins’ legal administrator, Bishop says the defendant has refused numerous request to forward his medical record, and the suit blames that reluctance on a wrongful death suit likely to be filed over the incident.
Bishop seeks a jury trial, a restraining order preventing the destruction of evidence, release of Mullins’ records and reimbursement for litigation expenses. She is represented by attorney Jonathan R. Mani of Mani Ellis & Layne PLLC in Charleston.
Judge James C. Stucky is assigned to the case.
Kanawha Circuit Court Case number 16-C-301