Punitive damages hearing in nursing home trial postponed

A hearing to determine punitive damages in a case of a woman suing a nursing home and other healthcare facilities on behalf of her late father has been postponed.

The hearing before Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Ricardo Jackson in the case of Williams vs. Willow Terrace et al was originally scheduled to take place Tuesday, but the judge pushed it back to Sept. 20, according to plaintiff’s attorney Pete Giglione, of the firm Wilkes & McHugh.

The three-and-a-half-week jury trial ended late last week with a plaintiff’s verdict against Albert Einstein Healthcare Network and the Philadelphia-based Willow Terrace nursing home.

The 12-member jury awarded Philadelphia resident Camay Williams, who sued on behalf of her late father, Marcel Mackey, Jr., $2.287 million.

Williams, executrix of Mackey’s estate, had claimed that the pressure ulcer Mackey developed while under medical care that eventually contributed to his death was due to the negligence of the defendants.

Methodist Hospital and St. Agnes Continuing Care were the other defendants in the case, but the jury’s verdict excluded those two, focusing instead on Willow Terrace and both Albert Einstein Medical Center, and its parent, Albert Einstein Healthcare Network.

Numerous witnesses were called to the stand by both the plaintiff’s and defense attorneys throughout the three-week trial.

Giglione and his co-counsel had argued that the pressure ulcers developed by Mackey were the direct result of the poor care the North Philadelphia native received while under the care of the defendants.

Defense attorneys had sought to show that Mackey’s poor health and various ailments prevented him from healing properly, and while they said it was sad that he had perished the way that he had, it wasn’t necessarily the fault of those charged civilly with his death, who they contend cared for Mackey properly.

Giglione previously told the Pennsylvania Record that he would reserve comment on the trial’s outcome until after the punitive damages hearing had taken place.