A criminal prosecution has triggered a civil lawsuit.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — The sister of a former nursing home patient has sued the home and an imprisoned nurse it once employed.
The lawsuit says the nurse caused the patient to suffer needlessly by denying him his painkilling medication, and the home concealed the nurse's actions from the victim and his family.
Mary Eileen Diorio of Boardman, sister of Martin Gilboy and administratrix of his estate, sued the nurse, Sharyn Lynn Duponty of Campbell, and the nursing home, Caprice Health Care of North Lima, in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Diorio and the Caprice administration did not respond to requests for comment.
On Sept. 20, Judge James C. Evans of that court sentenced Duponty to eight months in the Ohio Reformatory for Women at Marysville after she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted theft.
Duponty was initially indicted by the county grand jury Feb. 9, 2006, on a theft charge alleging she stole two 500 milligram Hydrocodone painkilling tablets intended for Gilboy on Oct. 25, 2005.
Drug screens for Hydrocodone, which were requested by the Caprice administration, were inconclusive for Gilboy, but positive for Duponty, who could not produce evidence of a prescription authorizing her to take the drug, according to a Beaver Township police report.
Duponty, 48, who had no previous criminal record, was placed on leave from her job Oct. 26, 2005, and later resigned. Gilboy, who had cancer, died at Caprice on Nov. 8, 2005.
The civil lawsuit, filed Wednesday by Atty. Elizabeth Bernard of Canfield, says Duponty signed out medication intended for Gilboy, but she failed to give it to him.
The suit, which seeks damages in excess of $25,000, says the nursing home knew or should have known Duponty was unfit for duty, failed to supervise her properly, and concealed her conduct from Gilboy and his family.
Diorio continues to suffer mental and emotional distress because of Duponty's conduct and the nursing home's negligence, the suit says.
"The family believed they were doing everything they could in placing him in the care of that staff, and, almost two years later, came to find out that he wasn't getting the medicine that was prescribed for him to relieve his pain," Bernard said in an interview.
Gilboy's family learned of the criminal case against Duponty when the county prosecutor's office inquired as to whether Gilboy's survivors wished to make a victim impact statement at Duponty's sentencing hearing.
Diorio, who gave the statement, knew previously that her brother was in pain, but didn't know he wasn't getting his pain control medication, Bernard said.
"We are all investigating at this point because we've all just learned of this," Bernard said of herself and members of Gilboy's family.
Since the Caprice case, Duponty has gotten into more legal trouble. She'll be returned here for arraignment at 9 a.m. Nov. 14 on unrelated theft, forgery and identity fraud charges for which she was indicted Nov. 1. Those charges originated in Campbell Municipal Court.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
A criminal prosecution has triggered a civil lawsuit.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — The sister of a former nursing home patient has sued the home and an imprisoned nurse it once employed.
The lawsuit says the nurse caused the patient to suffer needlessly by denying him his painkilling medication, and the home concealed the nurse's actions from the victim and his family.
Mary Eileen Diorio of Boardman, sister of Martin Gilboy and administratrix of his estate, sued the nurse, Sharyn Lynn Duponty of Campbell, and the nursing home, Caprice Health Care of North Lima, in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Diorio and the Caprice administration did not respond to requests for comment.
On Sept. 20, Judge James C. Evans of that court sentenced Duponty to eight months in the Ohio Reformatory for Women at Marysville after she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted theft.
Duponty was initially indicted by the county grand jury Feb. 9, 2006, on a theft charge alleging she stole two 500 milligram Hydrocodone painkilling tablets intended for Gilboy on Oct. 25, 2005.
Drug screens for Hydrocodone, which were requested by the Caprice administration, were inconclusive for Gilboy, but positive for Duponty, who could not produce evidence of a prescription authorizing her to take the drug, according to a Beaver Township police report.
Duponty, 48, who had no previous criminal record, was placed on leave from her job Oct. 26, 2005, and later resigned. Gilboy, who had cancer, died at Caprice on Nov. 8, 2005.
The civil lawsuit, filed Wednesday by Atty. Elizabeth Bernard of Canfield, says Duponty signed out medication intended for Gilboy, but she failed to give it to him.
The suit, which seeks damages in excess of $25,000, says the nursing home knew or should have known Duponty was unfit for duty, failed to supervise her properly, and concealed her conduct from Gilboy and his family.
Diorio continues to suffer mental and emotional distress because of Duponty's conduct and the nursing home's negligence, the suit says.
"The family believed they were doing everything they could in placing him in the care of that staff, and, almost two years later, came to find out that he wasn't getting the medicine that was prescribed for him to relieve his pain," Bernard said in an interview.
Gilboy's family learned of the criminal case against Duponty when the county prosecutor's office inquired as to whether Gilboy's survivors wished to make a victim impact statement at Duponty's sentencing hearing.
Diorio, who gave the statement, knew previously that her brother was in pain, but didn't know he wasn't getting his pain control medication, Bernard said.
"We are all investigating at this point because we've all just learned of this," Bernard said of herself and members of Gilboy's family.
Since the Caprice case, Duponty has gotten into more legal trouble. She'll be returned here for arraignment at 9 a.m. Nov. 14 on unrelated theft, forgery and identity fraud charges for which she was indicted Nov. 1. Those charges originated in Campbell Municipal Court.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
The sister of a former nursing home patient has sued the home and an imprisoned nurse it once employed.
The lawsuit says...
