Family of injured Oakwood resident sues

Local News

June 1, 2007

State says lawsuit against Liberty Healthcare is none of its concern

By CHRIS HARRIS CJ Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Fri Jun 01, 2007, 09:32 AM EDT

Bluegrass Oakwood Community Center shouldn’t be affected by a lawsuit filed by the guardian of a client who was injured last summer.

According to a report in the Lexington Herald-Leader, Joseph Staples is suing the Pennsylvania-based firm Liberty Healthcare for over $1 million for injuries suffered by Richard Yonce Jr. of Louisville, for whom Staples serves as guardian. Staples filed the suit earlier this month.

While a copy of the suit was unable to be obtained, Gwenda Bond, spokesperson for the state’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services, was unaware of the development and said that neither the state nor Oakwood was involved if the lawsuit was between the plaintiff and Liberty Healthcare. She also said the state would not comment on any pending litigation.

Yonce was the Oakwood resident involved in the July 4, 2006, incident where an Oakwood worker crushed the client’s left testicle with his knee while trying to restrain him. Oakwood received a Type A citation over the unfortunate series of events last September, the facility’s 23rd such citation out of 24 received in 2005 and 2006. The workers involved were ultimately terminated.

According to the citation report, the incident occurred after the patient, who has a history of self-injurious behavior, “sat up in his bed, took off his helmet, was screaming and yelling and hit his head 10 times” and was “pushing and kicking towards staff.” A half-hour later, Yonce again allegedly exhibited the self-injurious behavior while in the bathroom and ran back to the bed.

“An attempt was made to block the client and he jumped back and his legs hit the bed and took the client off his feet,” said the citation, which also quoted the staff member as saying the client “grabbed me and my knee went between his legs on the mattress.”

The citation said that during the incident, the staff failed to utilize the proper procedures to deal with Yonce’s behavior as directed in the client’s positive behavior support plan.

“The staff stated that the client did not reveal any signs of pain,” stated the citation, and several opportunities occurred for him to do so. Yet around a half-hour later, the staff member said “I noticed the swelling. (The client’s) scrotal region (was) very swollen, very noticeable, reddish purple. I realized then that I may have caused the injury.”

There was no sign of additional injury between the time of the incident and the discovery of the swollen area on Yonce, according to the citation.

After determining that Yonce had a “fractured” left testicle, he was transferred to a hospital in Lexington where the testicle was surgically removed.

The lawsuit seeks the $1 million plus other damages, and alleges that Liberty didn’t properly train its employees and allowed them to continue to work at Oakwood while the situation was being investigated, contrary to state policy, according to the Herald-Leader report.

At the time Liberty Healthcare was managing Oakwood, most Oakwood workers were actually employees of the state of Kentucky, which oversees the mental health facility. Liberty Healthcare was in charge for a year, from November of 2005 to the beginning of November of last year, when the Lexington-based Bluegrass Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board took over. All Oakwood workers who were employees of the state began officially serving under Bluegrass at that point.

Most recently, Liberty filed court documents this week asking that the case be dismissed and claiming the two Oakwood workers were acting outside the scope of their employment, according to the Herald-Leader.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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