Earlier today, the law firm of Robert Peirce & Associates, P.C. filed a lawsuit against Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, a Guardian Healthcare skilled nursing facility located in Lower Burrell, Pennsylvania. The Complaint was filed on behalf of the family and Estate of Marianne Bower, a resident whose death was directly caused by the facility's Assistant Director of Nursing, Heather Pressdee. As of today's filing of the civil lawsuit, Heather Pressdee has not been convicted. Marianne Bower was a 68-year-old resident who lived at the Belair facility from March 2020 through September of 2021.
PITTSBURGH, Pa., Oct. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Earlier today, the law firm of Robert Peirce & Associates, P.C. filed a lawsuit against Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, a Guardian Healthcare skilled nursing facility located in Lower Burrell, Pennsylvania. The Complaint was filed on behalf of the family and Estate of Marianne Bower, a resident whose death was directly caused by the facility's Assistant Director of Nursing, Heather Pressdee. As of today's filing of the civil lawsuit, Heather Pressdee has not been convicted. Marianne Bower was a 68-year-old resident who lived at the Belair facility from March 2020 through September of 2021.
The Complaint alleges that in April of 2021, Belair hired Heather Pressdee as its Assistant Director of Nursing. Prior to Nurse Pressdee being hired by Belair, she had been terminated and/or forced to resign from six previous local healthcare facilities over a period of less than three years as a result of her abusive behavior toward residents and staff.
The Robert Peirce & Associates Complaint alleges that Belair failed to conduct an appropriate background check on Pressdee, thereby creating a dangerous environment for the residents of the facility. Additionally, after Pressdee was hired, Belair's administration became aware of rumors that her direct-care residents were deteriorating suddenly and unexpectedly. Other members of the Belair nursing staff had become suspicious of Pressdee and voiced their concerns. But instead of appropriately investigating, Belair's administration disciplined the nurses for discussing their suspicions.
The Complaint further alleges that in August of 2021, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH), the regulatory body tasked with overseeing skilled nursing homes in Pennsylvania, had cited Belair for failing to assess and document signs of changes in multiple residents' blood sugar levels, failing to notify physicians of changes in residents' conditions, and failing to follow physicians' orders.
Because of the severity of Belair's deficiencies, the DOH citations were issued as an alert that residents of the facility were in "immediate jeopardy" of a "situation which has caused, or is likely to cause, serious injury, harm, impairment, or death as a result of the nursing home's noncompliance with one or more regulations."
During the DOH investigation, and as noted in its report, Heather Pressdee admitted to failing to alert a physician when a resident's blood sugar was well beyond normal levels. Again, Belair failed to appropriately investigate these issues, and Nurse Pressdee remained Assistant Director of Nursing.
The Robert Peirce & Associates Complaint further alleges that several weeks later, Nurse Pressdee administered a fatal dose of insulin to Ms. Bower, who was neither a diabetic nor prescribed insulin. This incident led to Ms. Bower's death on September 28, 2021.
The Complaint alleges various counts against Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation and several Guardian Healthcare Defendants, alleging that the actions of the Defendants caused or contributed to Ms. Bower's death.
As previously reported in the media, on May 24, 2023, Pressdee was charged with two counts of criminal homicide in relation to a different set of events that occurred at another skilled nursing facility, in Chicora, Pennsylvania – those counts have since been upgraded to murder in the first-degree and murder in the third-degree.
"To allow her behavior with patients to go unchecked despite multiple concerns from staff, is unconscionable. No one who trusts a facility with their loved one's care should ever have to experience what Marianne Bower's family is going through," said Robert Peirce & Associates Managing Partner, Rob Peirce.
"This is a shocking failure on the part of Belair Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center and Guardian Healthcare to look into Heather Pressdee's background—especially with so many red flags," said Robert Peirce & Associates Partner, Scott Simon.
Pull Quote
"To allow her behavior with patients to go unchecked despite multiple concerns from staff, is unconscionable," said Robert Peirce & Associates Managing Partner, Rob Peirce.
Media Contact
Rob Peirce, Robert Peirce & Associates, 412-281-7229, robpeirce@peircelaw.com
SOURCE Robert Peirce & Associates
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