The relatives of a woman from Ohio, who passed away from sepsis after developing a pressure sore in a nursing home, are seeking justice for their beloved family member.

Lucky Garcia was 72 years old when she died on July 2. She had been residing at Arbors at Oregon, a nursing facility located approximately 4½ miles southeast of Toledo.

The management of Arbors at Oregon has not yet responded to inquiries regarding the incident. However, Matt Mooney, the attorney for the Garcia family, indicated that they intend to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the nursing home.

“In Ohio, wrongful death encompasses any death that arises from neglect, negligence, recklessness, or intentional harm, including homicide,” Mooney explained to YSL News.

The family believes that the nursing home’s operational policies created conditions that contributed to Garcia’s death, as stated by Mooney.

According to Mooney, the family seeks “accountability from Arbors of Oregon.”

“The family suspects that this is not an isolated incident at the Arbors,” he remarked. “The facility operates under pressure from management and corporate directives, pushing staff to work harder, longer hours, and take on more patients with fewer resources, which they believe is a dangerous approach.”

Mooney and his team requested records from the nursing home on September 16 and are currently awaiting delivery of those documents. This will enable them to file the civil suit.

The case heavily relies on the autopsy findings after Garcia’s death, according to Mooney.

An autopsy report, which YSL News has acquired, states that her death was attributed to “caregiver neglect, which led to complications from a sacral pressure wound.” The coroner classified her death as a homicide.

Mooney stated that this situation is unprecedented for him.

“Having practiced law in Ohio for nine years, focusing on medical malpractice and nursing home abuse cases, I have never encountered a coroner so definitive about a death being caused by medical neglect,” Mooney noted.

Family Claims Garcia Was Not Properly Moved or Turned

Mooney remarked that Garcia had once lived independently but suffered a stroke that affected her left side.

She initially lived with her son, but the family could no longer manage her 24-hour care, prompting them to admit her to Arbors of Oregon in October 2019. The facility assured the family that they could meet Garcia’s care needs, according to Mooney.

“Initially, there were no significant concerns regarding her care. However, starting in early 2024, family visits revealed that their mother was no longer being regularly moved or helped out of bed,” Mooney shared, explaining that Garcia remained in bed most of the time without being placed in a chair or assisted with movement, which is crucial to avoiding bedsores.

The family noted that caregivers frequently did not attend to her in her room, Mooney recounted.

Eventually, she began to complain of back pain and was admitted to St. Charles Hospital on June 19, where doctors discovered she had developed a stage-four pressure ulcer on her back.

The nursing home had not informed her family about the wound and had merely covered it with bandages, Mooney explained, adding that Garcia succumbed to sepsis on July 2.

Her infection had spread to her bloodstream, he stated.

Mooney pointed out that there was a prior incident at the same nursing home where a caregiver faced legal actions for manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, and multiple counts of neglect and abuse.

“A caregiver was charged and found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and patient abuse in that situation,” he said.

Garcia Was a Beloved Great-Grandmother, Lawyer Emphasizes

Mooney described Garcia as a matriarch with a large family. She raised four sons single-handedly and was a maternal figure for many children in the community.

Her home was always open to friends in need, he mentioned.

“Lucy was welcoming to anyone needing a place to stay or a meal, and she was deeply committed to ensuring her sons were raised well and learned to be independent,” Mooney said.

“Her family always considered her the heart of their family, and she was present for nearly every one of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren’s births,” Mooney stated.

She is survived by nine great-grandchildren, 17 grandchildren, and four sons.

Attorney labels woman’s death as ‘a tragedy’

“It’s crucial to recognize that what happened to Lucy is indeed a tragedy,” Mooney remarked. “We have already spoken to others who had relatives at the Arbors of Oregon, and they reported strikingly similar experiences. We will investigate the reasons behind this and examine the systems, policies, and procedures at Arbors that contributed to these unfortunate outcomes for Lucy and other residents.”

Garcia’s family wants to ensure that no one else experiences a similar situation and hopes that the focus on her story will safeguard other families from facing the same fate.

“Nobody should have to endure the treatment that Lucy received,” Mooney expressed. “No one should have to deal with a stage four pressure ulcer, which entailed complete tissue loss down to the bone. They want to ensure that this does not happen again.”