A Charleston woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Sunbridge Care and Rehabilitation Center in Dunbar, its parent company and former administrator, claiming their negligence and medical malpractice was the reason her father died.Ray Combs was a patient at the facility from April 2004 through December 2005. The lawsuit says he suffered pneumonia, dehydration, pressure sores, multiple fractures, malnutrition, contractures and loss of weight.
The complaint says the nursing home failed to provide even the minimum amount of staffing necessary to assist residents with their needs, failed to maintain appropriate records, and failed to monitor and document significant changes in Combs’ condition.
Combs, 77, died in January 2006 after spending three years in the nursing home, his daughter said Thursday.
Tammy Rae Combs of Charleston said doctors were shocked at her father’s condition when nursing home staff sent him to Charleston Area Medical Center. He was unresponsive at the time.
Combs said, “The doctor pulled the covers back and he had sores all over his body. His legs were ate up. They ended up amputating both his legs.”
She said signing the papers to have her father’s legs removed was one of the most difficult things she’s had to do.
“He was a tap dancer,” she said. “He loved to dance. He called it the ‘trailer drive shuffle.’”
Combs said her father appeared well kept when she visited him at Sunbridge, and he wasn’t a complainer.
“I never thought for a second to pull his pants down and look,” she said. “He kept his pain in.”
Besides Sunbridge, its parent company — Sun Healthcare Group of New Mexico — is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. It also names Tammy Jo Painter, who was administrator at the time of Combs’ residency.
The facility’s current administrator, Diana Crickard, said she could not respond to the lawsuit. She cited privacy laws protecting former and current residents.
The lawsuit says Sunbridge and the other defendants “were well aware of Ray Combs’ medical condition and the care that he required when they represented that they could adequately care for his needs.
“Defendants made affirmative representations to the family that the appropriate level of care would be provided when the defendants knew, because of budgetary restrictions on staffing and supplies, that residents, including Ray Combs, would not get the necessary care.”
The lawsuit says Sun Healthcare Group entered into a plea agreement with the federal government in response to charges related to staffing and supervision of its homes. The company operates 141 nursing facilities, and owns 104 of them.
As a result of that action, Sun was required to develop and implement policies in each facility with disciplinary or retraining policies for staff members who contributed to non-compliance, court records show.
The failure of the company to institute those changes, plus a reduction in staff at the Dunbar nursing home, resulted in Combs’ death, the lawsuit says.
In 1999, Sun Healthcare Group filed for bankruptcy protection. The company at the time owned or operated seven nursing homes in the state, including the one in Dunbar.
At the time, Painter, who was administrator at Sunbridge of Dunbar, said the bankruptcy would not affect patient care or result in any changes.
The suit says Combs’ lack of proper care resulted in disfigurement, extreme pain, suffering, mental anguish and death. It says his injuries caused Combs emotional trauma and the loss of personal dignity.
Tammy Combs is represented by attorneys James McHugh and Michael Fuller of Charleston. The lawsuit was filed in Kanawha Circuit Court Wednesday and will be heard by Judge James Stucky.