Family settles claim in nursing home death

NEOSHO, Mo. -- A settlement has been reached in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a disabled veteran who died of complications from gangrene after entering a southwest Missouri nursing home in 1999.

The lawsuit alleged Rex E. Riggs, known as "Tony," died because of the negligence of Beverly Healthcare of Neosho. Terms of the out-of-court settlement were not disclosed. The legal cap for such deaths in Missouri is $540,000, but that does not include special damages for medical bills, funeral expenses or punitive damages.

Riggs' death prompted U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Veterans Affairs, to introduce legislation this fall calling for increased scrutiny of nursing homes that house veterans.

It was initiated after a July report by the Government Accounting Office concluded that the Department of Veterans Affairs could not ensure that all veterans in private nursing homes receive standards of care established by the agency. Riggs, who served in the Army in the 1960s, was cited in the report.

"Rex was one veteran who lost in the VA health care system," Bond said. "The nation has a solemn duty to protect America's veterans from abuse and neglect, and to ensure they receive quality health care each and every day of their lives."

Riggs, 57, died after being admitted in September 1999 to Beverly Healthcare by the Department of Veterans Affairs. While he was a patient there, his genitals and lower abdomen became infected with gangrene. Doctors removed his genitals and parts of his lower abdomen, but he died on Oct. 19, 1999.