A jury in Maryland has awarded more than $1 million in damages to the family and estate of a pastor who died as a result of a nursing home’s carelessness.
A Baltimore County jury awarded the family and estate of Pastor Randolph Mack $1,037,500 in non-economic damages in a judgment against Stella Maris, Inc. last week.
Mack, the former pastor of New Beginning Bible Baptist Church in Baltimore and a martial arts specialist, died in December 2020 at the age of 64 in the Franklin Square Medical Center.
His family sued the nursing facility where he lived, claiming that their refusal to treat a pressure sore, sometimes known as a bedsore, contributed to his death.
According to medical documents, Stella Maris workers failed to reposition Mack on a frequent basis, instead left him on his back for several hours at a time, allowing his injury to worsen.
Although the six-member jury awarded the Mack family and estate more over $9 million, Maryland law has a cap on non-economic damages, thus the amount was significantly reduced.
The Mack family was represented by attorneys with the law firms Brown & Associates and Janet, Janet & Suggs.
Patrick A. Thronson and Andrew S. Janet of JJ&S released a joint statement in response to the decision, denouncing the state law’s capping of the awards given to the family and estate.
“Maryland and other states have unfairly and unjustly limited the compensation families in negligence and health care malpractice cases are able to recover for their enormous human damages, such as the emotional harm that surviving family members often endure for the rest of their lives,” they stated.
“Corporations that all too often act with careless disregard for the law and human life deserve no special treatment. Maryland law should no longer demean the suffering of victims of nursing home and health care malpractice through this discriminatory, unjust limit on human damages.”