Opinion ID: 1894271
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Spilman

Text: In Spilman, a nursing home resident died after being admitted to a hospital for treatment of infections allegedly contracted while he was in a nursing home. See 661 So.2d at 868. On appeal, the nursing home argued that the damages available under section 400.023(1) were controlled by the Wrongful Death Act rather than the survival statute. See id. [7] Pursuant to chapter 400, the jury had awarded damages for the decedent's physical and mental pain while he was alive, damages not available under the Wrongful Death Act. See 661 So.2d at 868. In addition to the plain meaning of the language in section 400.023(1) which expressly authorizes the recovery of damages, as well as the express language providing that the chapter 400 remedies were in addition to and cumulative of any other legal and administrative remedies available to a resident, Judge Peterson also found confirmation of his policy analysis in the legislative history surrounding the 1986 amendment to section 400.023(1), which gave personal representatives the right to bring a suit for violations of a decedent's chapter 400 rights. See id. at 869. [8] Additionally, Judge Peterson, quoting the answer brief of the Office of State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, pointed out that under the nursing home's theory: [I]t would be cheaper for a nursing home to kill its residents and thereby limit claims by personal representatives to the damages listed in the Wrongful Death Act. Such construction not only offends the strong public policy that nursing homes are to promote maintenance or enhancement of the quality of life of each resident, but basic statutory construction. See Williams v. State, 492 So.2d 1051, 1054 (1986) (statutes should not be given a meaning that leads to an absurd or unreasonable result). 661 So.2d at 869. The Fifth District ultimately concluded through Judge Peterson's opinion, and based on the plain language of the statute and the legislative history, that the legislature did not intend for damages under section 400.023 to be limited by the Wrongful Death Act where the nursing home's infringement or deprivation of the patient's rights resulted in the patient's death. Id.