The family of a nun killed by a falling closet at a county-run nursing home has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit claiming that the 90-year-old's death was caused by "gross recklessness and negligence"."Without a doubt, this was a preventable death," Kenneth A. Pryor, a Mineola, N.Y., lawyer representing the family of Mary C. Murray, who was known as Sr. Mary Daniel at St. Zita's Villa in Monsey, said yesterday. "No one should die the way that she died."
The Journal News reports that the lawsuit does not seek a specific amount of damages against Rockland County or the county-run Summit Park Nursing Care Center, according to legal papers on file in state Supreme Court in New City.
"This has been such a terrible tragedy for our family," said Daniel J. Murray Jr., of Floral Park, N.Y., the nun's nephew. "Our main concern is that they learn something so that no other family has to go through this."
Pryor said he has been in touch with the office of Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo about possible criminal charges in connection with Sister Mary's death.
The Attorney General's Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Summit Park already has been fined $17,300 in connection with the nun's death, and the state Department of Health said that additional penalties are likely.
Sr. Mary was found Aug. 31 on the floor in her room at the county-run nursing home, bleeding profusely but still conscious, according to state records. She died of a fractured skull Sept. 7 at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.
The 200-pound, 7-foot-high and 2-foot-wide freestanding closet unit in her room apparently toppled over onto her after she tried to reach something inside a top shelf, according to records.
The notice of claim filed in state Supreme Court sites inspections done by the state Department of Health, showing that nursing home officials were aware of two previous incidents in which a closet unit had tipped over - including one that occurred just weeks before Sr. Mary was injured.
After each of the two prior incidents, the closets were bolted to the wall, but the county never ordered that all similar closets at Summit Park be attached, records show.
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