Kentucky Jury Awards $42 Million in Nursing Home Death

The family of a man who died after nine days in a Madisonville nursing home has won a $42.75 million verdict.

Attorney Lisa Circeo argued in court that 92-year-old Joseph Clint Offutt died because Harborside of Madisonville staff neglected him. She said Offutt suffered severe dehydration, malnutrition, bedsores and infections, all of which led to his death in April 2008.

Offutt was a World War II veteran who was still planting crops at age 88, Circeo told the Lexington Herald-Leader. After a stroke in 2007, his wife of 58 years, Pearline, cared for him at home for eight months before the family decided he needed professional care.

Nursing home administrator Carol Britt told the Lexington Herald-Leader the size of the verdict was “outrageous and totally inappropriate.” She said the company would appeal.