A California nursing home started drugging a new patient to stop him from wandering off, eventually killing him with a heavy regimen of medication, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his daughter.
Alando Williams died in his bed at age 64 at Windsor Healthcare Center of Oakland in California, the lawsuit says.
“My father’s last days were spent in horrific conditions with people who were supposed to provide care for him and instead abused and neglected him,” his daughter Kyomi Williams told McClatchy News on July 11.
Her father was a beloved community member of Berkeley and a family man, remembered for his “calm presence and gentle smile” by the Street Spirit newspaper. He sold the East Bay publication’s newspapers by the Berkeley Bowl supermarket for more than six years.
Alando Williams had leukemia and a mild cognitive impairment when he arrived at the nursing home on Dec. 9, 2022 with an “adequate” treatment plan from his doctors — nearly a month before his death on Jan. 7, 2023, a complaint filed June 26 in Alameda County Superior Court says.
This treatment plan wasn’t followed, according to Kyomi Williams.
Her father needed regular help with daily activities and supervision “to protect him from wandering off, falls, and other safety hazards,” the complaint says.
The nursing home’s staff knew Alando Williams was likely to wander and obtained a doctor’s order to give him two medications “as needed”: Ativan, a sedative and anxiety medication, and morphine, a pain-relieving opioid, according to the complaint.
Williams’ doctor had to approve each dose given to him, but the nursing home’s staff is accused of not consulting with the doctor.
The facility didn’t “create or implement any actual plans to protect Mr. Williams,” and instead began “chemically restraining” him with drugs, the complaint says.
“I was never told that the facility was administering to my dad unauthorized and lethal doses of sedatives like Ativan,” Kyomi Williams told McClatchy News.
She is suing the nursing home and its owner, Shlomo Rechnitz, on several claims, including dependent neglect, negligence, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Her lawsuit names a few companies that manage the nursing home, including Brius Healthcare Services, which are all owned by Rechnitz.
Rechnitz, a businessman and philanthropist, was reported as California’s largest nursing home owner in an investigation by The Sacramento Bee published in 2015. His facilities have come under scrutiny over quality of care concerns.
Rechnitz and Windsor Healthcare Center of Oakland didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ requests for comment on July 11.
Elder abuse attorney Ed Dudensing, who represents Kyomi Williams, told McClatchy News on July 10 that a medical expert is prepared to testify how Ativan and morphine contributed to Alando Williams’ death.
His time at the nursing home
When Kyomi Williams visited her father at the nursing home, it was “dirty and hazardous,” she told McClatchy News.
She saw staff members sleeping, medications left out and items she provided to her father would go missing afterward, she said.
After Alando Williams’ first few days at the facility, the nursing home told Kyomi Williams he wandered away, according to the complaint. She found him outside on a crosswalk afterward, the complaint says.
The day before, the nursing home had increased Alando Williams’ Ativan doses, according to the complaint.
“Not only did the facility subject Mr. Williams to a cruel punishment of chemical restraints, but they failed to monitor his condition and account for his basic needs,” the complaint says.
Staff didn’t treat Williams when he was coughing and had trouble breathing, and they let him go several nights without a blanket, the complaint says.
When her father had a medical event, “such as when he developed a severe UTI or bleeding,” Kyomi Williams said she was never notified.
“A staff member told me in confidence that she had asked about notifying me about my dad’s bleeding and was told it was not necessary ‘because he is dying anyway,’” she said.
Patient viewed as ‘prisoner’
By routinely dosing Alando Williams with “powerful drugs” to keep him from wandering, the nursing home caused him “to suffer numerous other complications, including disorientation and confusion from being drugged up, loss of balance, decline in function, increased dependency for care needs which placed him at further risk of complications of neglect by the facility and susceptibility to falls,” the complaint says.
A few days before his death, the facility doubled his morphine dose in response to him falling on Jan. 3, 2022, according to the complaint.
“They merely saw Mr. Williams as a prisoner that required chemical restraints,” the complaint argues.
In a previous case, Dudensing and his legal team secured a $42.5 million award against Eskaton, an assisted living facility provider based in Northern California, in 2019 over the death of a 77-year-old woman who was routinely given Ativan, The Sacramento Bee reported.
She was repeatedly dosed with Ativan without her consent, resulting in her death in 2012, according to a lawsuit reviewed by The Sacramento Bee.
The complaint over Williams’ death says Rechnitz’s nursing homes have a “habitual understaffing” problem and fail to keep patients safe.
A separate lawsuit against the nursing home Williams stayed at alleges the staff did nothing about a 79-year-old patient being repeatedly raped by another resident, ABC 7 reported. Dudensing also represents this case.
Kyomi Williams’ lawsuit seeks to recover an unspecified amount in damages and a court order that protects patients’ rights from being violated.
“It is difficult to convey the depth of our family’s loss but we are taking this legal action in hopes that no other family has to go through a similar experience,” she said.
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