Nursing Home Resident Was Humiliated With “Lap Dance” Before Dying from Bed Sores, Malnutrition, Sepsis
The family of Fred Pittman, an 84-year-old man who died after a stay at Cumberland Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in New Jersey has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the home, alleging he was a victim of negligence. According to the suit, the man was a long-term care patient at the facility from late January through mid-February 2018. The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court, alleges staff at Cumberland Manor neglected to “allocate sufficient resources to adequately provide” and otherwise “exercise reasonable care” and failed to:
- prevent and timely treat injuries
- manage pain
- comply with physician orders
- provide adequate food
- dispense pain medication
Another allegation is that a Cumberland Manor staff member performed a simulated sexual lap dance on Pittman “to otherwise embarrass and humiliate decedent.”
Ultimately, Pittman was transferred from the home to a hospital for treatment of malnutrition, sepsis, bedsores, weight loss and dehydration before he died on March 2, 2018.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory and punitive damages and attorney’s fees. The family’s attorney is David R. Cohen, of Cohen Kolodny Abuse Analytics Law LCC. He says copies of medical charts, nursing records, nurse aides’ records and incident reports relating to Pittman’s stay will be reviewed.
For more than 60 years, Cumberland Manor was owned by Cumberland County, but sold to a private group, Cumberland Operations LLC in 2012.
Speak up Against Abusive Staff and Neglectful Nursing Home Behaviors
Nursing home employees have no right to maliciously abuse residents through taunts, mockery, and lewd, sexually suggestive behaviors. But unfortunately, the number of incidents in which skilled nursing facility employees have been caught performing inappropriate, abusive, degrading or embarrassing and neglectful acts towards vulnerable residents have sadly become more common.
If your loved one has expressed behavioral or physical changes which are leading you to feelings of concern, act quickly to question the care team and demand answers from administrative staff. If you are an employee of a nursing home and witness to resident mistreatment or suspect neglect, you are protected against any form of retaliation. You are encouraged to report what you know immediately.
Respected Elder Abuse and Nursing Home Negligence Attorneys
Levin & Perconti has become one of the most widely known and respected nursing home abuse and neglect law firms in the country, achieving multiple million-dollar verdicts and settlements. If a loved one has sustained serious injuries or an untimely death resulting from abuse, ridicule or neglect by nursing home staff, your family may be entitled to compensation.
These cases are sensitive, and there is a time limit to file in Illinois, so please contact us now. We offer FREE consultations by simply calling toll free at 1-877-374-1417, or in Chicago at (312) 332-2872.
