SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) — A family is demanding accountability after the death of a 98-year-old loved one following an attack in a nursing home.
The family says the nursing home could have prevented the attack.
“Grandma would hug everybody and she was extremely witty, very, very funny, very fast on her toes. She was also very intelligent,” said Adam Plares II, the youngest grandson of Vera Plares.
He said Vera Plares was a mom, wife, grandmother and great-grandmother.
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While her youngest grandson, will always remember the good times, he also can’t forget the tragedy that took her from loved ones.
“Just seeing my grandmother in that condition will, it haunts me every night,” Adam Plares II said, “I can’t sleep.”
According to a felony complaint filed by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, Vera Plares was attacked on December 13, 2023, at her nursing home, Mission Skilled Nursing and Sub Acute Center in Santa Clara.
The attacker was her 79-year-old roommate.
The family who says they regularly visit and check in on her, said that they were called hours after the attack and had to push for her to be taken to a local hospital.
“As soon as I saw her condition, I saw my grandmother with bruises, a bleeding, swollen eye, broken teeth,” Plares said, “I mean, it was very, very brutal and disgusting and it broke my heart and immediately I knew my grandmother was not going to make it.”
Vera Plares died a couple of days later.
Court documents show that the roommate had also attacked someone months prior in April.
Vera’s family have now filed a civil lawsuit against the nursing home, its parent company and hospice partner.
“She was very vulnerable, and they put her with somebody that was extremely dangerous,” said attorney Victoria Guiterrez with Goyette Ruano Thompson who is representing the family.
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ABC7 reached out to the nursing home and was told a message would be given to its administrator, we have not heard back.
In a statement to our media partners, The Mercury News, after the roommate was charged the nursing home said that it was saddened and shocked by recent events. They went on to say that could not comment further since the matter is in litigation.
Plares family attorneys say that while the family is seeking compensatory damages, the first thing they want to bring is awareness.
“If it happens at a nice high end care facility like Mission Skilled owned by Convent Care, a massive corporation how’s it like at lesser, less expensive facilities, less sophisticated facilities?” Paul Goyette with Goyette Ruano Thompson said, “There’s a problem out there.”
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Criminal charges were brought against the 79-year-old who is accused of attacking Vera.
The court proceedings are suspended though over questions surrounding that person’s mental competency.
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