Faced with a $1-million lawsuit by the family of a man killed after screw-ups at the city-owned nursing home, London officials have admitted negligence and are negotiating a payout.
The mea culpa was the quickest family lawyer Robert Konduros has seen in 25 years as a litigator and he says that’s because mistakes at the Dearness Home were brought to light by The Free Press.
“They admitted liability up front in their statement of defence — I’ve never had that happen before,” Konduros said.
The Cambridge lawyer met last week in his office with an outside lawyer hired by the city to try to iron out a settlement, something Konduros is optimistic will happen.
“It certainly looks promising,” he said.
The 81-year-old Norman Stasyna had threatened to run away before staff moved him March 2 to a less secure wing of Dearness, hours before he fled and was killed by a vehicle while crossing busy Wellington Rd.
The Free Press later learned and reported the home’s administrator had obstructed a Health Ministry probe into the death — investigators found managers mismanaged his care, misled his family and ignored frontline staff.
“Your digging and investigation went some way to making sure the city did the right thing (in admitting negligence),” Konduros said.
The city didn’t couch its culpability, saying Dearness staff didn’t give Stasyna’s family accurate information and acted negligently in a way that contributed to his death, court records show.
City officials also sent his family a letter of apology, Konduros said.
“The city has stepped up to the plate,” he said. “The city has been very sensitive about the importance of bringing closure to the family.”
Cuity officials say their decision was arrived at quickly.
“It was the right thing to do,” said Tim Dobbie, a former city administrator hired to help guide Dearness to firmer ground.
Stasyna’s family has asked that the city spell out what measures it has and will take to guard against similar negligence in future, Konduros said.
Police records show the vehicle that struck and killed Stasyna after dark was driven by someone who was blameless, Konduros said.
Members of the board that oversees Dearness directed question to their chairperson, Coun. Nancy Branscombe, bu she wouldn’t comment because the litgation wasn’t resolved.
Two days before Stasyna was killed, his son was phoned by a Dearness official who wanted to move him from a locked wing controlled by a keypad to an unlocked wing — it appeared the official wanted to free up the secure room for someone else. Stasyna’s son agreed because on prior visits to the home his dad seemed calm and steady — he didn’t know Dearness had placed his father on a powerful cocktail of different medications.
Those revelations and allegations of obstruction led to the departure of top officials connected to Dearness and the hiring of private management to correct problems — a report on possible changes, expected by the end of 2012, has been delayed a few months.
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/01/07/city-on-1m-hook-in-dearness-death-suit
