Elderly Woman Awarded $8 million In Case Involving Nursing Home

By Daniel Hawn

Published on September 28, 2005

According to the lawsuit, Sandra Swanson, formerly of Renton, Washington, was checked into The Gardens at Issaquah nursing home in 1998 after suffering a stroke. The lawsuit claimed that Swanson's doctor recommended that she undergo daily range-of-motion exercises to prevent the uncontrollable muscular contractions, known as contractures, that she experienced in her left arm from her stroke.

However according to the lawsuit, the nursing home staff failed to provide Swanson with the prescribed physical therapy. As a result, in June 2000, doctors had to amputate Swanson's left arm because the contractures had become extremely painful and irreversible, the lawsuit claimed.

In June 2001, Swanson began to experience increasingly painful contractures in her left leg. By August 2002, doctors concluded that her leg contractures were also irreversible and amputated her left leg at the knee.

Attorneys for The Gardens argued in court that none of Swanson's injuries could be tied to negligent care. They also claimed that Swanson had refused medical treatment while at the facility.

Following the judge's decision, Swanson's attorney, David Beninger, told reporters that his client now resides at a nursing home in Seattle. He said that her condition has improved and she is receiving the treatment she needs.

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