Category: Damages

DAMAGES-PUNITIVE-NURSING HOME Ponzini v. Monroe County, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 34731 (3d Cir. November 21, 2019) McKee, C.J., pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent.  When health care institutions act or fail to act with intentional or reckless disregard for a patient’s health and welfare, they may be held liable for punitive damages.   The record is filled with evidence of policies ignored, medical records not reviewed, medical orders not followed, medication prescribed but not given (after verification), and PrimeCare ignoring nursing staff complaints about insufficient staffing and doctors not visiting MCCF sufficiently frequently. The evidence is clearly sufficient to allow a reasonable juror to conclude that PrimeCare recklessly disregarded Barbados’s welfare; and the jury here did just that.  Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs (as we must), we conclude that the jury could easily find that PrimeCare is a company that regularly misrepresents its operational structure, fails to properly supervise its staff, and takes affirmative steps to mislead the public and the government. Therefore, the record supports the jury’s conclusion that PrimeCare’s actions were “of such an outrageous nature as to demonstrate intentional,…