Levine v Ventura Convalescent Hospital Class Action Settlement Appro
Levine v. Ventura Convalescent Hospital, Class Action Settlement Appro... Legal Advocacy
and attorneys’ fees to counsel. In approving the settlement, the court stated that: “But for Class Counsel's willingness to confront the defendant it is highly likely that the hundreds of patients . . . would still be receiving psychotropic medications without informed consent.”
Class Action Settlement Approved to Protect Nursing Facility Residents
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Read and On August 18, 2014, the Ventura County Superior Court in California granted final approval of a settlement for compensatory and injunctive relief on behalf of a class of hundreds of nursing facility residents who were given psychotropic drugs without their informed consent. AARP Foundation Litigation attorneys represented residents in the Ventura County Convalescent Hospital who were administered drugs without consent, including many with FDA black box warnings about the danger they pose to people with dementia, like the mother of the lead plaintiff in the case.Background
Kathi Levine’s mother was admitted to the nursing facility after suffering a hip fracture and was prescribed a variety of unnecessary medications administered without the consent required by California law. In the class action, Levine v. Ventura Convalescent Hospital, Levine was the lead plaintiff as representative of her mother’s estate. Levine stated that even though she held the medical power of attorney for her mother, she was never consulted about the administration of medications and her consent was never obtained. She did not even know about the prescription of these drugs until her mother was being discharged from the facility, at which point a nurse told her about the powerful sedatives, anxiety drugs, antidepressants, and antipsychotic drugs that were given to her mother, who suffered with dementia which was manageable when she lived in the community. Levine believes that the drugs turned her mother into a person with little cognitive function who would babble nonsense at all hours of the night, too confused and sleepy to even participate in the physical therapy that had been the purpose of her admission to the facility. Once her mother was discharged, her doctor tried in vain to wean her off the powerful medications. Within a few weeks, her mother died. Levine reported the facility to the state Department of Public Health. The agency ruled that the facility had failed to ensure that Levine’s mother was free from unnecessary drugs which had put Levine’s mother in direct and immediate danger. However, because her mother had already died, the agency took no further action to address the systemic issues at the facility. Levine sued the nursing facility, and AARP Foundation Litigation attorneys joined attorneys Gregory Johnson and Jody Moore to represent her and all others similarly treated. The lawsuit alleged that while these drugs may make residents easier to handle, by needlessly medicating residents and by failing to obtain their consent, the nursing facility violated federal and state laws particularly designed to protect residents of nursing facilities. Settlement of the case included a court order that sets clear standards for the facility to verify that the physician has had a meaningful and complete discussion with the patient (or legal representative for incapacitated patients) about the medications prescribed, possible side effects, and alternatives, before administering a drug. The settlement also provides financial compensation to the members of the classand attorneys’ fees to counsel. In approving the settlement, the court stated that: “But for Class Counsel's willingness to confront the defendant it is highly likely that the hundreds of patients . . . would still be receiving psychotropic medications without informed consent.”