Jury tells nursing home to pay $1 million to former resident

A Fayette County jury has decided that Lexington's Cambridge Place Nursing Home will have to pay more than $1 million in damages to a former resident who fell and was found in an equipment storage room with broken bones in her face.

In January 2009, Irene Hendrix, who has Alzheimer's disease, was reportedly walking up and down a hall using a Merry Walker, which is a walker that has a seat. At some point, Hendrix, right, fell and was found with bleeding in her brain, a 4-centimeter cut on her forehead and the broken bones, the Lexington Herald-Leader's Valarie Honeycutt Spears reports. Hendrix's daughter and guardian filed a lawsuit against the facility later that year, alleging negligence.

After two hours of deliberation, the jury awarded Hendrix $1 million for physical pain, suffering and mental anguish. It also awarded Hendrix more than $27,000 for her medical bills. "A jury spoke today regarding the level of care they expect for their loved ones in nursing homes in Fayette County," plaintiff's lawyer Scott Owens said.

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Office of the Kentucky Attorney General previously investigated Hendrix's case and a state adult-protection worker "determined that Hendrix was a victim of caretaker neglect and had been exposed to an extreme safety risk," Spears reports. "The protection worker told the attorney general's office that she thought Hendrix's injuries were the result of an accident." The attorney general's office closed the case in March 2009. (Read more)