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Wrongful Death Suit Filed In Nursing Home Mishap

November 10, 2005

According to a lawsuit filed by the woman's two sons, staff at her nursing home did not provide Manuela Beltran with anything to eat or drink for nine days, which resulted in her death.

The lawsuit has been filed by Jesse Lujan and Larry Gonzalez, the woman's two sons, and names the Cherry Creek Nursing Center in Aurora as being negligent.

The prosecuting attorney states that Manuela died as a result of starvation and dehydration. The lawsuit has been filed in a Denver District Court.

Beltran, 77, was in the nursing home being treated for dementia. On December 20th she had fallen from her wheelchair and her condition severely degraded.

The lawsuit claims that staff was aware that Beltran would fall forward if she did not have a walker.

According to the suit, the staff placed her in a chair that she inevitably fell out of, suffering severe head injuries. These injuries made her condition very critical.

The staff is accused of negligence in allowing her to sit in an unsafe chair and for not treating her after the accident.

Following the incident, it became increasingly difficult for Beltran to eat and drink. She reportedly did not receive any food or water from Dec. 23 to Dec. 30, the day she was pronounced dead.

The nursing home has already been cited for three violations stemming from Beltran's case. These violations include failure to provide adequate supervision to prevent an accident, failure to assess and treat a change in a resident's condition, and failure to prevent a severe weight loss.

According to the lawsuit, Beltran lost nine pounds in the two and a half weeks prior to her death. She already weighed a small 89 pounds.

The lawsuit claims that neither the family nor her doctors were informed when her condition began to worsen.

A doctor was finally notified on December 29th but only after a hospice evaluation was ordered.