The Rios Verdict
“The Plum organization is truly the most profit-driven nursing home chain I have ever encountered in my 20 years prosecuting elder abuse.”
Ed Dudensing
Sam Rios Jr. went to Pine Creek Care Center in Roseville in April 2017 for a short-term rehabilitation stay to recover from a broken hip. He was 86 years old and a retired Sacramento State professor, an Air Force veteran, and a civil rights activist who had spent three decades leading the University’s Chicano Studies program. His students called him “El Profe.”
At Pine Creek Care Center, he arrived with heel protectors already in place from his prior care at Kaiser Permanente. Pine Creek staff removed them, placed them in a closet, and never applied them again. Despite being identified as high risk for skin breakdown upon admission, his care plan contained no protocol for pressure sore prevention. Over the course of his stay, there was no documentation whatsoever of Mr. Rios’ heels being floated, which is the main intervention for prevention of pressure sores on the heels.
Two days after his discharge, home health nurses discovered two severe pressure ulcers on his heels, injuries that could not have developed in the brief time he had been home.
For the next ten months, until his death on March 16, 2018, Sam Rios lived with a bone-deep wound on his right heel that took away his ability to walk and to share a bed with his wife of forty years. It substantially contributed to his death.
A Profit-Driven Culture of Neglect
At trial, the Dudensing Law trial team, led by Ed Dudensing, showcased how Pine Creek was controlled and operated by Bay Bridge LLC, a company whose largest ownership group was private equity giant GI Partners, LLC. Trial evidence showed that Bay Bridge’s corporate priorities systematically undermined patient care, with staffing cuts at its facilities leaving residents without adequate supervision or treatment.
The Verdict
After a 79-day trial, a Sacramento County jury returned a total verdict of $30.9 million against Pine Creek Care Center, Plum Healthcare Group, and related corporate entities; $5.9 million in compensatory damages and $25 million in punitive damages.
“We hope and pray that both the nursing home and the private equity industries will receive the message sent by the jury that it is simply wrong to prioritize profits over patient care,” said Dudensing.
Read more about the verdict in coverage from The Sacramento Bee and The Sacramento Business Journal.