Brown & Crouppen Secures $1 Million Settlement in Nursing Home Choking Death

A 65-year-old man had lived at a Kansas City, Missouri nursing home for roughly five years. Because he had documented trouble swallowing, his physician put him on a mechanically soft diet, meaning his food was supposed to be prepared so he could eat it without choking. On June 21, 2017, staff served him a piece of fruit in the dining room.

He choked and stopped breathing in front of other residents. He was taken to a hospital and resuscitated, but he had almost no brain activity left. He died four days later.

His daughter and his mother brought a wrongful death claim against the facility. The complaint focused on a simple gap: his care plan called for a mechanically soft diet, and the kitchen and dining staff handed him whole fruit anyway. Giving solid fruit to a resident known to be at risk of choking, the family argued, fell below the basic standard of care the home owed him.

Brett Williams of Brown & Crouppen's Kansas City office handled the case, with co-counsel Jonathan Steele of The Steele Law Firm. The plaintiffs built the claim around the documented physician order and the facility's failure to follow it. The home's records reflected the swallowing precautions, which made the question less about whether the order existed and more about why dining staff did not honor it on the day he died.

The case did not reach trial. After the plaintiffs sat for depositions, the parties settled for $1 million on January 24, 2019, in Jackson County Circuit Court. The caption and the facility's name were kept confidential under the agreement. Because the matter ended in a negotiated settlement rather than a jury award, no verdict was entered and no amount was later reduced or remitted on appeal.