JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The family of former Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams is suing a Southpoint senior living facility.
A lawsuit has been filed against Brookdale Southpoint following the death of Williams’ grandmother Louise Walker.
Walker’s family said there was negligence, understaffing and a possible cover-up after she had a fall in her room and died from a massive brain bleed.
On April 17, the family said it got a call from the facility saying Walker fell and there was “not much blood,” but that changed when the family arrived at the hospital and doctors said she had a massive brain bleed which took her life four days later.
“There’s no telling what we don’t know about, what I don’t know about. It’s a nightmare to know what my grandmother experienced in her final weeks of life,” said great-grandaughter Brandi Faison.
Faison said before the fall, Walker had been confined to her facility during the pandemic with no visitors. They spoke through video calls which caused the family to suspect there were problems.
“She was in soiled clothes days in a row on these video calls,” Faison said. “We were keeping track of that. She would cry.”
News4JAX looked at excerpts from the DCF investigation before the family ever hired a lawyer.
“There is medical evidence to support failure of [a staff member], Brookdale Southpoint staff, to adequately supervise a [resident] with a high risk of falls. This failure resulted in the [resident] requiring hospitalization due to a head injury,” DCF investigators wrote.
The family’s attorney Steve Watrel said after investigating, the family feels the facility has too few staff members to handle the needs of the residents.
“This is a significant facility so you have unskilled people caring for people that have…‘in large numbers’ ambulation problems, memory problems. They wander,” Watrel said.
Watrel laid out items from Walker’s room from that day that showed there was blood all over the room and he contends it is evidence that there was an attempt to cover up the severity of her fall.
“It’s just really hard to know that we trusted professionals that chose this to do with their life, I’m going to take care of the elderly. And they blatantly had no respect for her quality of life,” Faison said.
News4JAX reached out to Brookdale and a spokesperson issued a statement: “At Brookdale, providing quality care is a priority to ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of our residents. However, it is our company policy to not comment on pending litigation.”
In court, lawyers for Brookdale have filed papers denying liability.
A trial has not yet been scheduled.