CHARLESTON – A woman is suing Genesis Healthcare after she claims it negligently cared for her family member and was responsible for his death.
Other defendants named in the suit are 1539 Country Club Road Operations; John Does 1 through 10; and Unidentified Entities 1 through 10.
Gregory Gales was a resident of Tygart Center in Fairmont from Sept. 10, 2015, through Aug. 23, 2016, according to a complaint filed April 14 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Vanessa Perry claims the defendants failed to discharge their obligations of care to Gales.
The scope and severity of the recurrent wrongs inflicted upon Gales while under the care of the facility accelerated the deterioration of his health and physical condition beyond that caused by the normal aging process and resulted in physical and emotional trauma including poor hygiene, pain, contractures, weight loss, falls, pneumonia and death, according to the suit.
Perry claims the defendants were negligent in their care of Gales and owed to duty to residents to exercise reasonable care in providing oversight and management of the nursing homes they owned, operated, managed and/or controlled.
The defendants breached their duty by failing to properly manage, operate and/or control their nursing homes in a manner that a reasonably careful person/corporation would have provided under similar circumstances and by failing to properly allocate resources, provide appropriate policies and procedures, take appropriate corrective action when operation problems are brought to their attention, and intentionally concealing the severity and existence of those failures from the state and federal government, according to the suit.
Perry claims the defendants also violated the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act by using deception, false pretense, false promises and/or misrepresentation and/or concealment, suppression and/or omission of material facts with the intent that the plaintiff and others would rely on the concealment, suppression or omission, in connection with the sale of nursing home services.
Perry is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by James B. McHugh and Michael J. Fuller Jr. of McHugh Fuller Law Group.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 17-C-562