Casitas Care Center Nursing Home in Granada Hills Charged with Negligence, Fraud, Alleged Wrongful Death of a Patient Suffering from Dementia

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Makarem & Associates announced today that Casitas Care Center, located in Granada Hills, Calif., has been charged with elder abuse, fraud, negligence and the alleged wrongful death of Mr. Klaus Warme, a 66-year-old resident of the facility who was suffering from debilitating dementia.

The family suit claims that on September 11, 2005, the nursing home caused the death of Mr. Warme by responding too slowly and negligently when during dinner Mr. Warme began choking on some of his food. It is alleged that the nursing home’s account of the incident is fraudulent because their course of action was inconsistent with standard medical emergency procedures and their reported timeline contradicted the timeline recorded by the Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics.

Mr. Warme became a resident of Casitas Care Center in February 2005. Due to his dementia, Mr. Warme required extensive assistance with his daily activities, including direct supervision when eating meals. A symptom of dementia is having a significant appetite, which results in eating excessive amounts of food too rapidly. This symptomatic behavior by Mr. Warme required proper monitoring, of which Casitas was aware.

The nursing home reported that Mr. Warme was served dinner at 5:00 p.m. According to the LA Fire Department, the paramedics were not called until 5:46 p.m. The Warme family lawsuit claims that the staff at Casitas did not discover Mr. Warme until it was too late and that the cause of death was lack of oxygen to his brain, which lasted at least 30 minutes. By the time the paramedics arrived, his condition was critical.

Mr. Warme was taken to Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills where he died two days later on September 13, 2005. He is survived by his wife Marlene Warme and their three children, Jeffrey, Suzanne and Paul Warme, the plaintiffs in the case.

The case, Warme v. Casitas, is scheduled for trial on September 10, 2007 at the Chatsworth Courthouse in Chatsworth, Calif.