BELLEVILLE –The Colonnade Senior Living has been named in a lawsuit alleging the staff's negligence resulted in a resident's fall.
Plaintiff Martha Eggers, acting as independent administrator of the estate of Virginia Whitlock, filed a lawsuit in the St. Clair County Circuit Court against Colonnade Senior Development, LLC, doing business as The Colonnade Senior Living, citing negligence.
According to the lawsuit, Whitlock entered into the care of the defendants on Aug. 18, 2020. When she was admitted, it was made known that she was at risk for falls, had dementia and was almost completely blind. It was also made known that her room was supposed to remain unlocked so they could provide proper care.
The lawsuit alleges that at 1:45 a.m. on Aug 19, 2020, an employee allegedly heard Whitlock yelling from the room, but couldn't open the door. The employee looked through the window and saw that Whitlock had fallen. When nursing staff finally got the door open, Whitlock allegedly complained of leg pain. She was taken to St. Elizabeth's Hospital and diagnosed with displaced right femoral neck fracture and underwent a procedure to address the injury.
Whitlock was then taken to a different facility, where she allegedly lived for another two months with pain as a result of the injuries she suffered at the Colonnade. The suit states that prior to her death, her medical treatment to address the injury cost her "substantial" amounts of money.
According to the lawsuit, the nursing staff at The Colonnade had not performed their required duties to properly prepare Whitlock for bed prior to her fall.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) conducted an investigation into the incident and found The Colonnade in violation of the Assisted Living and Shared Housing Establishment Codes, the suit states.
The plaintiff is seeking damages and is represented in this case by attorneys David W. Terry of Terry Law Firm, LLC in St. Louis and Jaye Lindsay of Crossroad Legal, LLC in Bethalto.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 22LA0588