Eadie Hills Files Lawsuit Against Continuing Healthcare at the Ridge, Alleging the Medical Negligence, Recklessness, and Wrongful Death of Judith Stahl

According to a recently-filed complaint, when Judith Stahl was admitted to Continuing Healthcare at the Ridge, she required significant medical attention. It is our belief that the facility’s staff understood that Judith suffered from several conditions that put her at great risk for developing pressure ulcers. However, the complaint alleges that the staff failed to perform crucial preventative medical responsibilities, including routine skin checks and accurate charting of her weight.

Judith was transferred to a local hospital on three occasions, suffering from pressure ulcers, hypoglycemia, weight loss, and altered mental status. On her third and final trip to the hospital, on November 14, 2021, she passed away from sepsis.

When Judith was first admitted to Continuing Healthcare, she had reason to expect that she was in good hands. After all, according to their website, the facility is “committed to the total well-being of each resident” and employs a “compassionate and dedicated staff.” However, we believe that Judith’s treatment reflected precisely the opposite.

Continuing Healthcare is a for-profit facility, which means that it is in their best interest to minimize costs where possible—this is standard business practice for most for-profit companies. However, minimizing costs at a nursing home is a dangerous game—the number one expense for a nursing facility is staffing, and we believe that Continuing Healthcare systematically understaffs their center in order to maximize profits. According to the complaint, Continuing Healthcare was staffed such that there was no way Judith could have received the “highest quality of care in a warm, friendly environment.” 

Instead, Judith underwent a terrifying ordeal, which included multiple stage IV pressure wounds—the most severe classification—including one the size of a fist. At one point, when she was admitted to the hospital, she arrived “covered in feces,” according to the complaint. She ultimately developed sepsis and died.

We aim to prove that Judy’s ordeal and untimely death were completely preventable, and were the result of the neglect and recklessness on the part of Continuing Healthcare and its staff. We believe that this severely understaffed facility was incapable of keeping up with Judith’s needs, and that, as a result, she lived in filth, to the extreme that Judith’s toilet was not flushed or cleaned regularly.

On behalf of Judith’s family, Eadie Hill is proud to be filing a lawsuit against Continuing Healthcare at the Ridge and its parent companies. We are honored to be seeking some small measure of justice on Judith’s behalf, and some degree of closure for her family.

Courses of Action

The lawsuit filed by Eadie Hill against Continuing Healthcare at the Ridge and its parent companies alleges the follow courses of actions:

1. Medical Negligence and Recklessness. The complaint alleges that the defendants failed in their duty to provide Judy with proper care and treatment and that this negligence was the direct and proximate cause of her injuries.
2. Wrongful Death. The complaint alleges that as a direct and proximate cause of this negligence and recklessness, Judy suffered injuries that caused her untimely and wrongful death. It also alleges that Judy’s next-of-kin suffered mental anguish, grief, and loss of Judy’s society and companionship as a result.
3. Nursing Home Residents Rights Violation. The complaint alleges that the defendants violated Judy’s rights as a resident of their facility. The rights violated include the right to a safe and clean living environment, the right to adequate and appropriate medical treatment and nursing care, and the right to participate in decisions that affect her life.
4. Civil Conspiracy. The complaint alleges that the defendants had an agreement or mutual understanding to defraud residents and families by delivering wholly inadequate care and to systemically understaff their facilities for their own profit.

Eadie Hill’s Commitment to Justice

At Eadie Hill, we’re dedicated to seeking justice for those who were abused or neglected in nursing homes, or other long-term care facilities. We believe many of these facilities are systemically understaffed, leading to increased profits…and tragedy for their patients. We are committed to seeking justice on behalf of the victims, and the families who have lost loved ones because of these unethically operated companies. 

Whenever patients undergo needless suffering or untimely deaths, we are there to bring some measure of redress for these victims and their families.

About Continuing Healthcare at the Ridge

Continuing Healthcare at the Ridge makes bold claims about the quality of care they provide. For example, their website claims that they are committed to “not only… preserv[ing] quality of life but to embrac[ing] it.”

Yet, even a quick look at the assessment provided by the Medicare.gov website paints a starkly different portrait. According to this government evaluation, this for-profit center’s staffing was “below average,” while their overall rating as a facility earned the site’s lowest “one-star” designation. Ultimately, Medicare.gov concluded that Continuing Healthcare runs a “much below average” operation.

This assessment was echoed by the people who know the facility best, those who’ve actually worked there. One former resident assistant agreed with the center’s below average staffing rating. “Not enough people working – always understaffed” they claimed on Indeed.com, adding that certain employees were granted “favoritism.” This assessment mirrored the allegation of a current nursing assistant who claimed on Glassdoor that staff is “overworked and underpaid” and felt that “people need to [be] held accountable.” Another former employee on Glassdoor claimed that staff was overwhelmed trying to handle their regular tasks in addition to “added duties.”

Continuing Healthcare at the Ridge

3379 South Main St.
Mineral Ridge, OH 44440

Continuing Healthcare Solutions, Inc.

c/o Registered Agent:
Benjamin J. Parsons
5890 Venture Drive
Suite D
Dublin, OH 43017

Mineral Ridge Skilled Nursing and Residential Care Realty, LLC

c/o Registered Agent:
Benjamin J. Parsons
5890 Venture Drive
Suite D
Dublin, OH 43017