The body of a missing nursing home resident was found in the Trempealeau River Sunday, sparking an investigation by Wisconsin's Department of Health Services. The body of Hong Lin, 43, was found by a hunter Sunday morning near the town of Lincoln. Lin had been reported missing from the facility since November 3rd.

According to an article written in the LaCrosse Tribune, the Divsion of Quality Assurance, a part of the Department of Health Services, will be investigating the case.

The Trempealeau County Health Care Center cares for the elderly and people with chronic mental diseases.

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The following is an article written by Lee Berquist and appeared in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on January 8, 2012. Click here to read the story.

Jurors in Washington County awarded more than $1.5 million Friday to the mother of 56-year-old woman who died after choking while in the care of a group home in Germantown.

Vicky Anderson died on March 3, 2009, after an incident on Feb. 27 of that year, according to her attorney, in which staff of the group home failed to properly purée her food.

As a result she choked on her meal, causing brain damage and eventually her death, attorney Jeff Pitman said.

Anderson was developmentally disabled, blind and had difficulty swallowing her food. She lived at a group home in Germantown operated by Countryview Group Homes.

Pitman said that while researching the case, he discovered Countryview was operating the day of the incident without a required manager and had recently cut staffing levels.

Jurors awarded the woman’s estate nearly $1.52 million for burial expenses, pain and suffering, loss of companionship for Vicky’s mother, Evelyn, and punitive damages.

Michael Yelin, administrator of Countryview, said in a statement:

“Countryview disputes any evidence of inappropriate staff cuts and (is) considering an appeal on that issue.

“Countryview took responsibility from the beginning because its employee made a mistake.”

The following is an article from the Des Moines Register published September 27, 2011. Click here for the story.

On the front page of the Des Moines Register today was the powerful story of a Des Moines woman who fought for a necessary change in policy at Mercy hospital, and won.

Polly Fullbright took her husband to the emergency room at Mercy hospital in Des Moines a couple years back. She and her husband are both deaf, and required a certified interpreter to communicate with the doctor and staff. During the five hours her husband was at Mercy before he died of heart complications he had no interpreter available. His final hours were spent completely in the dark, at no point could he talk to his doctor about his needs or his condition.

This was a traumatizing and unacceptable experience for Polly and her family. She and another Iowan who faced a similar situation sued Mercy hospital. As part of the settlement they won, Mercy will soon make a 24/7 video relay service with certified interpreters available for deaf and hard-of-hearing patients. This will make communication accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing patients when a live interpreter is not available, which was the case for Polly and her husband. Mercy also must administer stronger staff trainings for assisting deaf and hard-of-hearing patients, among other things.

This settlement is great news for Iowa patients who need the services of interpreters. Polly was represented by IAJ past president Thomas Duff. He tipped us off about this settlement and we recognized it right away as an excellent story to highlight the power of our civil justice system to affect positive change. We helped place this story in the Des Moines Register and helped line up a TV interview with Des Moines' Channel 8 - KCCI, which you can see on tonight's newscast.

These clips show the impact we can have when we use the resources available to us to tell our story. So many of you win similar verdicts and settlements throughout the year. Please see IAJ as a resource to help get the word out if you ever have a powerful and compelling client and/or case that highlights the important role of our justice systems in holding wrongdoers accountable.

Investigation Concludes Nurse Disobeyed Doctor's Order