GALLATIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — Was there more the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing could have done, in the early days of the pandemic, to prevent 89-year-old Ruth Summers from getting and later dying from COVID?
Two more witnesses, put on by the attorneys for Ruth's family, told the jury there was no question there was more they could have done.
"We worked so hard trying to care of these residents because we had a lot of sick people in there," said Kris Brooks, a former nurse at the Gallatin nursing home, as she got emotional on the stand.
You can see those emotional moments in the player above.
Brooks became the second nurse in this trial to testify she was directly asked by nursing home leaders to work while she felt sick.
"I’m not going to be able to come in tomorrow. And she was like — I need you, you have to be here," Brooks testified. "I was like I’m running a fever. I feel like death and I don’t need to be there. And she tried to force my hand and told me, 'Yes I need you here. You have to come in.' And I finally said, 'No ma’am, I’m not coming in.'"
Attorneys for the nursing home tried to paint Brooks as a disgruntled former employee, who was fired from the facility. Judge Joe Thompson ruled the reason why Brooks was fired wasn't relevant to the trial and couldn't be asked about.
"Is true you have lingering or ongoing hurt feelings about having been terminated by the Gallatin Center, true?" asked Howard Hayden, an attorney for the nursing home.
"Who wouldn’t?" replied Brooks.
"So the answer’s yes?" asked Hayden.
"Yes. I’m hurt, I’m not mad. I’m hurt," said Brooks.
The most emotional moments came from the plaintiff, Debbie Bolton, Ruth Summer's daughter. Bolton told the jury about why she demanded the Gallatin Center for Rehabilitation and Healing send her mother to Sumner Regional Medical Center for a COVID test.
"I want my mother sent to the hospital to be tested for COVID, and she said we can do it here, and I said no you can’t because you’ve already told me she didn’t need to be tested. Please just get her out," testified Bolton.
She fought back tears, telling the jury about the final hours of their mother's life. Her mother's doctor called, warning her that the end was near, but that Debbie couldn't come and be with her.
"I begged him. Can I please come up there and suit up and mask up and have five minutes with my momma? And he said I couldn’t," said Bolton, recounting a conversation with her mother's ER doctor. "So Sunday, they called and had an iPad to FaceTime and Dr. Donnvan said, 'I’m giving you your five minutes with your momma. So I got to see my momma on FaceTime."
The defense decided not to cross-examine Ms. Bolton. With that, the plaintiff side rested, leaving the jury thinking about that emotional testimony all this weekend, before they return Monday for week two of the trial.
Next week, attorneys for the nursing home will present their evidence. Then the decision of whether Ms. Bolton deserves a settlement or not rests with the Gallatin-based jury.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at chris.davis@newschannel5.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
