Image of male nurse pushing senior woman in a wheelchair in nursing facility

A jury in a Kentucky circuit court awarded $20 million to the estate of a man who died at the Beverly Health and Rehabilitation of Frankfort.

Loren Richards, 84, died in March 2002 after the facility’s nurses allegedly ignored his repeated calls for help with abdominal pain. Richards’ daughter, Wanda Delaplane, sued the home, alleging that nurses failed to promptly respond to her father’s cries for help. Richards had an impacted bowel and reports show he later died of a heart attack.

The lawsuit originally asked for $159 million in compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of the estate and also alleged that the home was understaffed because of companywide cost cutting.

The facility’s parent company, Beverly Enterprises Inc., was sold earlier this year and is now officially known as Golden Gate National Senior Care.