Mesquite Nursing Home Settlement

August 1999 Settlement in Mesquite Nursing Home Case

A Mesquite nursing home settled its asphyxiation lawsuit for $1.1 Million, the plaintiffs claimed improper bed restraints led to the 86-year-old resident's death.

Dallas nursing home attorney Jeffrey H. Rasansky recently negotiated a $1.1 million settlement for the family of an 86-year old woman who was asphyxiated by a bed restraint in a Mesquite nursing home.

Mr. Rasansky represented the family of Mary Ruscoe in the lawsuit against Mesquite-based Christian Care Center. The court judgment was entered Aug. 3, 1999. The lawsuit, Mary K. Ritchie, Individually and as Independent Executrix of the Estate of Mary Ruscoe, and Margaret Smithhart v. Christian Care Centers Inc. d/b/a Christian Care Center, No. 98-12599, had been set for trial Aug. 2 in Judge Carlos Lopez's County Court-at-Law #2 in Dallas.

Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit

The lawsuit arose following the death of Smithville native Mary Ruscoe at Christian Care Center on Sept. 5, 1998. According to the suit, Ms. Ruscoe was placed in bed restraints soon after she was admitted to the nursing home on May 22, 1998, without the benefit of a doctor's order and without an assessment of whether she actually needed restraining.

Mr. Rasansky argued that Ms. Ruscoe was placed in the restraints while the side rails were up on her bed. When she attempted to get out of her bed to go to the restroom, Ms. Ruscoe was suspended in mid-air with the restraint pressing against her chest and abdomen. She was later discovered after having died of strangulation asphyxiation, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit included claims of negligence, gross negligence, breach of contract, fraud, and violation of Texas Penal Code 22.04, claiming that Christian Care Center caused Ms. Ruscoe's death either intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence by act or omission.

Jeff Rasansky is licensed to practice before all state courts in Texas, the United States District Courts in the Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas and the Fifth United States Circuit Court of Appeals.

Click here to contact The Law Offices of Jeff Rasansky.