TALLAHASSEE -- The estate of a nursing home resident has filed a lawsuit that blames it for her death.
Victor Hanna, as personal representative of the estate of Annie Lois Hanna, filed a complaint on August 30 in Leon County Circuit Court against Extended Care Portfolio Florida Tenant, LLC and Pacifica Senior Living, LLC for death-resulting damages and non-death-resulting damages.
According to the complaint, Annie Hanna was admitted into Woodmont, a Pacifica Senior Living Community, on June 7, 2020, and she was assessed and determined to be appropriate for residency. During her residency, the defendants were to be responsible for Hanna's adequate and appropriate care, attention, supervision, protection from injury and harm, and her health.
In a follow-up assessment in January 2020, she was noted to "need assistance" with ambulation, bathing, dressing, grooming, and transferring. Upon her admission, she had been suffering with dementia and used oxygen due to CHF, and her plan of treatment was that she was to be checked on every few hours due to her forgetfulness. Hanna's family last was able to see her on Christmas Eve 2020.
It is alleged that on Dec. 24, 2020, Hanna's suitemate noticed Hanna had gone missing during the night and rang the bell for staff. Around 6 a.m., the Tallahassee Fire Department responded to the facility due to a different unresponsive person, and upon arrival, noticed a person lying in the grass face down, the suit says.
The person was Hanna, who had wandered off in the night through a kitchen door that did not have an alarm, barefoot nto temperatures in the mid-20s. The fire department found her dead, and staff allege they did not know she was missing, as logs show that everyone had been checked on and accounted for, the suit says.
Victor Hanna seeks damages and costs and deems just and proper by the court. Hanna is represented by Scott E. Gwartney.
Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit in and for Leon County, Florida filing number 133667425