Court Upholds Jury Award in Beebe Patient's Death

Beebe Medical Center (Photo: WBOC)

11/10/2006

DOVER, Del. (WBOC/AP)- The Delaware Supreme Court has upheld a $13 million jury award in the death of a woman with Alzheimer's who wandered into a walk-in freezer at her health care facility.

The money was awarded to the husband and sons of 60-year-old Julie Bailey of Lewes, who died in January 2003. She was a patient at the Lewes Convalescent Center and the survivors sues the center's operator, the Beebe Medical Center.

In its appeal, Beebe alleged the trial judge made errors and abused his discretion, but the high court found the judge acted correctly.

Court records show the woman had the intellectual capacity of a 2-year-old at the time of the December 2002 incident. After hours of searching for her, the center's staff found her injured, frostbitten and stuck to the floor of the freezer in a frozen pool of urine. She died the following month.

Beebe Medical Center President Jeffrey M. Fried issued a statement in response to the high court's ruling. He said that during the trial the hospital publicly took full responsibility for Bailey's death and privately settled the punitive damages claim with her family in the amount of $5 million, which the family accepted independent of the compensatory damages award.

Fried also said the amount of the settlement was paid to the family over a year ago. The opinion of the Supreme Court does not affect this settlement, according to Fried.

"Notwithstanding the opinion of the Delaware Supreme Court, Beebe Medical Center does not expect the financial payments to ease the pain suffered by Mrs. Bailey's family, nor the sadness of everyone at Beebe Medical Center and Lewes Convalescent Center who worked with or cared for Julie Bailey during her time with us," Fried said.

Fried also noted that since the incident occurred, Beebe Medical Center entered into an agreement to sell its nursing home, but not the building, to a group of private investors who have extensive experience in the ownership and operation of Delaware long-term care facilities.

"The investors are building a new 120-bed long-term care facility on S.R. 24 west of Long Neck Road," Fried said. "Beebe Medical Center will continue to provide safe, quality long-term care at Lewes Convalescent Center until the new facility is opened. "