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INDIANAPOLIS – The estate of an Allen County woman can move forward with a wrongful death suit against a Fort Wayne nursing home, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
Martha O’Neal fractured her femur in August 2001. After surgery she was transferred to Bethlehem Woods Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 4430 Elsdale Drive. A few days later, O’Neal’s surgical incision was torn because the wheelchair Bethlehem gave her was too small, according to the court ruling.
O’Neal also was left on a bed pan for six hours at some point during her stay, resulting in O’Neal contracting severe ulcers. Then on Sept. 22, after a dialysis treatment, a Bethlehem employee discovered O’Neal lying in a pool of her own blood, the ruling said.
O’Neal was transferred to the hospital on the same day, but she died Nov. 6.
Her estate filed a wrongful death claim against Bethlehem Woods in October 2003.
But Bethlehem argued that O’Neal’s case should be handled under the medical malpractice law, which has a statute of limitations of two years from the occurrence of the malpractice.
The trial court agreed and originally dismissed the case.
But attorneys for the estate appealed and argued the case should be handled under the wrongful death statute of limitations, which is two years from the date of death.
In this case, the estate met the limitation for wrongful death but filed a month late for medical malpractice.
The appellate court ruled Wednesday that the wrongful death law controls in the case, which was remanded to the trial court for further proceedings, including a possible trial.
nkelly@jg.net
