This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Utah County jury recently ordered a former nurse and a Provo care facility to pay $1.4 million for the death of a man who was given the wrong medications.
According to a 2010 wrongful death complaint filed in 4th District Court, Jack Adams, a 71-year-old Spanish Fork man, passed away in February of that year two days after nurse Camille Jensen gave him medications that were meant for another patient. After realizing that she gave the wrong medicines, it is alleged that Jensen falsified the medication records to conceal what she had done and gave another patient the medication intended for Adams so that the drug count would be correct and her mistake be undetected. One of the medications administered was a dose of morphine — to which Adams was allergic, according to the complaint.
After his death, Adams' wife and daughter sued Jensen and Provo Rehabilitation and Nursing, arguing that the nursing home was reckless by having a nurse unfamiliar with Adams and his health care needs distribute the medications.
After hearing evidence during a four-day trial last week, jurors deliberated for nearly five hours before returning with their $1.4 million verdict, ruling that Adams' daughter was entitled to just over $1.37 million for loss of companionship, and Adams' estate should be paid over $32,000 for medical and funeral expenses.
Jurors attributed 35 percent of fault for Adams' death to Jensen's intentional decision to cover up her medication error, and 65 percent to the nurse's unintentional error of distributing the incorrect medications.
Attorney Brad Parker, who represented the Adams family in court, said Friday that because the nursing facility is responsible for their employee's unintentional mistake, the facility will have to pay 65 percent of the settlement. Parker said the nurse has since declared bankruptcy, and they are not expecting a pay-out from her.
"This whole case was about whether a nursing home has to stand behind its employees or not," Parker said.
Parker said the nursing home argued at trial that it was only Jensen's concealment of her medication errors that caused Adam's death, and argued that if she had reported it, they could have given Adams a drug that reversed the effects of the narcotics.
An attorney representing Provo Rehabilitation and Nursing did not return a phone call seeking comment Wednesday.
Jensen called her employer and told them of the medication error after the man's funeral, according to a news release from Adams' family attorneys. The care facility "denied all responsibility for the actions of its nurse employee," attorneys wrote, and also billed the Adams family for the nursing services.
Criminal charges were never filed against Jensen, though the complaint indicates that the Utah attorney general's office investigated the case. According to the Utah Division of Professional Licensing records, Jensen was put on probation for three months in 2010 for the incident before her license was reinstated. Her license has since expired, according to DOPL.
Twitter: @jm_miller