The Landmark Case of Joan Boice

Ashley Ricket has handled hundreds of cases of nursing home abuse and medical malpractice, but a case that was taken to a 10-week trial in California made a lasting impression on her.

“We didn’t focus on what happened but why it happened.” And what was uncovered was shocking.

81 year-old Joan Boice was severely  over her brief residency at an elder care facility. As a result she died from horrifically painful pressure ulcers. The family of Joan Boice, who visited often, were not made aware of her pressure sores until it was too late and she was taken to the hospital.

“This was a system failure,” she emphasizes, “where in essence the residents AND the employees were subjected to abuse by the corporate culture of the parent company.” Ricket empathized with the nursing home staff; there weren’t enough of them, they weren’t trained properly. They could only do so much with a lack of training and lack of staff.
‍

“Joan was only there eleven weeks and was severely neglected which allowed deep pressure sores to develop, causing an excruciatingly painful death,” she stated. “The family wasn’t aware she had the problem until it was too late.”

In this case, Ricket was able to help win a judgment in excess of twenty three million dollars with her distinguished co-counsel Lesley Clement of Sacramento, California. “Our opponents respect our expertise in the area of nursing home and elder abuse and that helps in equitable resolution of cases that typically go on for 18 months or more,” she says.

‍

See the article here.

‍