Cunningham Bounds attorney Lance Lourie recently helped secure a $23.6 million jury verdict for the family of a man who died after being given medications that had not been prescribed to him while residing at a Georgia nursing home.
The resident of the facility was known to be a leader in his community prior to suffering injuries that resulted in the need for him to be in a nursing home. While there, he sometimes exhibited behaviors that included yelling out and wandering the halls. During an overnight shift, after he displayed these behaviors, nursing staff administered morphine, hydrocodone, and lorazepam, medications that had not been prescribed to him.
Soon afterward, he was found unresponsive and in respiratory distress. He was transported to the hospital, where two separately collected urine samples tested positive for the three unprescribed medications.
He never recovered and died several weeks later.
FAMILY’S ATTORNEYS ARGUE DRUGS WERE USED AS A CHEMICAL RESTRAINT
Attorneys Evan Jones, Lee Atkison, and Josh Wages filed suit on behalf of the resident’s family. Cunningham Bounds attorney Lance Lourie later joined the legal team and assisted in the trial of the case.
During the 10-day trial, the family’s attorneys presented evidence and argued that the medications had been used as an unlawful chemical restraint in a chronically understaffed nursing home. They further argued that the drugs caused or contributed to the resident’s respiratory decline, hospitalization, and eventual death.
The jury agreed and found the nursing home responsible for the resident’s death.
The jury awarded the family $11 million in wrongful death damages and an additional $12.6 million for the pain and suffering, bringing the total award to $23.6 million.
On August 24, 2026, the jury found that the employees of the facility were also agents of two other affiliated corporations and therefore held both of them responsible for the damages as well.
HOLDING NURSING HOMES ACCOUNTABLE FOR RESIDENT CARE
“The jury carefully reviewed the evidence presented at trial and sent a clear message that nursing home facilities must not allow drugs to be improperly used to chemically restrain residents,” Lourie said. “We are gratified to have helped bring justice to this deserving family and hold these corporations accountable for dangerous practices that compromise the dignity and well-being of the residents entrusted to their care.”