Professional Negligence Law Reporter

Colvin Towns, who was in his 60s, was admitted to the Camden Nursing Facility in 2008. Towns suffered from various health issues, including congestive heart failure, bowel and bladder problems, cognitive loss, and diabetes. In the summer of 2016, he was sent to a hospital emergency room, where he was diagnosed as having nursing home-acquired pneumonia, respiratory failure, and septic shock. Towns died eight days later and is survived by his two adult children.

Towns’s estate sued the nursing home, alleging failure to provide sufficient staff and implement an adequate care plan. Suit claimed that the defendant failed to respond to Towns’s needs, including preventing him from developing pneumonia.

The jury awarded $250,000. The parties then settled under an undisclosed high-low agreement.

Citation: Towns v. Camden Nursing Facility, Inc., No. CV-2018-900057 (Ala. Cir. Ct. Wilcox Cty. Sept. 30, 2021).

Plaintiff counsel: Gavin F. King and J. Ryan Kral, both of Montgomery, Ala.; and William Pompey, Camden, Ala.

Plaintiff experts: Jaime Berger, long-term care nursing, Bryn Mawr, Pa.; and Ashish Mehta, pulmonology, Atlanta.