Lawsuit: Staff withheld care because of racial epithets

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A nursing home patient with dementia was neglected to the point of abuse because she cursed the staff, using racial epithets, her son alleges in a lawsuit.

Sonny Baye of Schriever is seeking $600,000 in damages from Heritage Manor of Houma, where his mother, Marie Baye, lived for five years. She died on Christmas 2004, two weeks after she was moved to a nursing home in Lafourche Parish, Baye said.

“I don’t think any person should get treated that way, even if they do have dementia,” Baye said.

The nursing home’s written response denies all allegations and asks a state district judge to dismiss the lawsuit. The facility’s attorney, C. Blair Bright of New Orleans, said he could not comment.

Baye said his mother’s treatment was acceptable until the last 18 months of her life, when Alzheimer’s disease and dementia made her lash out verbally at nursing home employees.

“She didn’t know what she was saying, but they took offense to it,” Baye said.

Baye said his mother developed bruises, large bedsores on various parts of time, bloody wounds and difficulty breathing. Her undergarments were often unchanged for long periods, and she was often left without the oxygen tank she needed, the suit claims.

The lawsuit said managers assured Baye that his complaints would be investigated, but his mother’s condition just got worse. He filed a complainat with Houma police in October 2004, but they did nothing, he said.

Baye said his suit was not filed until March because he had to wait for a state board to rule on whether his mother’s treatment was malpractice. The board ruled in favor of the nursing home, forcing Baye to go to court.