'My mother suffered': Lawsuit blames death on Spring Village assisted living in Dover
DOVER — Spring Village at Dover, a 56-bed assisted living community, is at the center of a lawsuit alleging that deceptive advertising of services offered led to the premature death of a Dover woman.
Gloria Michaud, 84, died in March following a series of falls and injuries that allegedly occurred at Spring Village at Dover, according to a lawsuit filed by attorney Anthony Carr, a partner at Shaheen & Gordon, on behalf of Michaud's family.
On Nov. 18, the Shaheen & Gordon firm filed suit in the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire against Florida-based Woodbine Senior Living Inc., which operates Spring Village at Dover. The suit alleges recklessness and gross negligence regarding the care and death of Michaud, breach of contract for failure to provide specialized memory care, and unfair and deceptive trade practices for the use of false and/or misleading advertising.
According to the lawsuit, when admitted to the facility Michaud suffered from dementia and was flagged as a fall-risk. Her daughters, who paid $7,000 a month for their mother’s care, were told that the facility specialized in memory care, the court documents said. The lawsuit alleges that between Oct. 30, 2020, the date Michaud was admitted, and March 18, 2021, just days before her death, Michaud suffered 25 falls, several of which had caused injury and/or required emergency treatment.
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“I trusted what I read and was told by staff about Spring Village. My mother suffered needlessly because of it,” said Darlene Tipp, Michaud’s daughter and administrator of her estate, in a prepared statement provided by Carr. “They’ve deleted some of their marketing claims from their website since we put them on notice we were pursuing mom’s case, but I still see some of them and hate to think of other families believing them.”
The suit seeks a jury trial and "compensatory damages" and legal fees but does not specify an amount.
Spring Village at Dover and Woodbine Senior Living did not respond to multiple requests for comment and, as of Monday, had not filed a response to the suit in court.
Carr said the lawsuit was filed in federal court due to allegations in multiple states against Woodbine Senior Living, including a case in Vermont.
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There was a similar case in Vermont in 2018 at Woodbine's Spring Village at Essex facility. The Vermont attorney general's office accused the facility of violating Vermont’s Consumer Protection Act by misrepresenting the level of care that could be provided to families of prospective residents.
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Court documents from the Vermont case state the Vermont facility's leadership claimed it would be able to care for people at all stages of dementia and aging, regardless of the level of care that they needed, but the facility was not licensed to provide that kind of full-time nursing care.
The Vermont attorney general reached a settlement with Woodbine last year, fining the company $120,000 ($62,000 to the state, $1,000 to each of the 48 affected families, and $10,000 to the Vermont Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association) with the company's agreement to cease all operations in the state, according to court documents.
The allegations against Spring Village in Dover are similar.
The lawsuit explains that Woodbine Senior Living licensed Spring Village at Dover as a “Supported Residential Care Facility,” which places limits on the type of care that can be provided and requires the facility to discharge and/or transfer residents who require a higher level of care than they can offer, court documents state.
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Woodbine Senior Living marketed Spring Village at Dover with claims of providing care “through end of life” and “specializing in memory care,” according to the lawsuit. Carr states in the lawsuit that resident care staff were "understaffed, inexperienced, and/or inadequately trained, including but not limited to the very dementia care that it marketed as being special and unique” and that Woodbine “could not provide even the minimum standard of care to the vulnerable residents of the facility.”
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“Woodbine should not be allowed to tell the same marketing lies in New Hampshire that got them kicked out of Vermont,” Michaud’s other daughter, Doreen Leighton, said in a prepared statement provided by Carr. “I hope that our attorney general takes this conduct as seriously as Vermont’s did.”
The New Hampshire attorney general's office didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
‘Premature and tragic’
On March 19, 2021, Michaud was found after suffering a fall with bruising and swelling on her right eye, along with dried blood, according to the lawsuit which outlines every fall the family alleges Michaud experienced under the facility's care. The court documents go on to explain that despite indications of internal bleeding, she was put back into her bed and approximately two hours later, Michaud suffered a second fall and again hit her head. She was then sent to the emergency department, and three days later, on March 22, Michaud was pronounced dead. Her cause of death was listed as “subdural hematoma” and “blunt head injury,” the lawsuit states.
Carr called Michaud's death "premature and tragic," stating Spring Village failed to discharge Michaud after more than two dozen falls leading up to her premature death. Carr alleges in the lawsuit that "Woodbine put profit over safety to retain Michaud as a resident."
This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Lawsuit blames 'premature' death on Spring Village in Dover NH
