Indiana Accident News

Family Wins $4.8 Million In Michigan Medical Malpractice Case

The family of a Newport, Michigan, man was awarded $4.8 million in a medical malpractice case that involved a morphine overdose at a nursing home.

In May of 2002, 76-year-old Burr Needham died at the Mercy memorial Nursing Center in Frenchtown Township. A medical examiner found that the man had died from a morphine overdose and ruled the death a homicide. Needham had entered the nursing center temporarily after a hip injury and was receiving physical therapy for his problem at the time of his death. Neither the doctor nor the five nurses that were caring fort the man could explain the morphine overdose. His charts do not show he was given any morphine at all although his autopsy clearly shows he died of morphine intoxication. He had been in the nursing center’s care for just over a week.

Needham’s wife, Betty, died in 2007. Both Burr and Betty had children from previous marriages. She received $3 million in the Michigan medical malpractice lawsuit for loss of companionship and loss of society. Another $1.5 million was awarded to Needham’s family for the pain and suffering that occurred at the nursing center. Finally, $350,000 was given to Needham’s family for damages, burial costs, and other related expenses.

The jury made their decision that the nursing home staff had been professionally negligent after a three-week MI medical malpractice trial that began on June 7.

The nursing home is expected to appeal the wrongful death case.

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