VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Last week, News 3 first reported on a lawsuit filed against Princess Anne Health & Rehabilitation Center in Virginia Beach for neglect. Now the family that wants to see accountability for the care provided to their loved ones is speaking to us.
“She loved children, she loved Jesus, she loved her church, and she was a very soft-spoken person," Nash Marrow, whose mother was a resident at the facility, said.
Marrow expressed that not a day goes by that she doesn't miss her best friend—her mother, Virginia Morrisette—who lived with her for years until she broke her hip in February 2023.
“She had surgery at Princess Anne Hospital. Four days after her surgery, she went to the Princess Anne Rehabilitation Center, and when she went in there, she had no bed sores whatsoever; her skin was clean,” Marrow said.
Marrow noted her mother was at risk for pressure ulcers—commonly known as bed sores—due to her limited mobility.
The family has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against the facility, making several claims, including that despite having a care plan, her mother developed a pressure ulcer due to inconsistencies in the facility's documentation and a failure to implement a turning schedule and provide adequate assistance.
“She had a stage IV bed sore; it was horrible. All around her butt was turning black and red. They had to take her and get all that dead skin off of it, and the smell was so foul, like somebody was dying,” Marrow said.
Less than a month after being at the facility, Marrow reported that her mother was diagnosed with a stage IV sacral pressure ulcer, which led to osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone.
Marrow ultimately decided her mother should return home, but months later, she passed away.
“You go there to get rehabilitated so you can walk again; it never happened for her,” Marrow said.
Princess Anne Health and Rehabilitation Center is the subject of a series of alleged violations, some of which resulted in residents being hospitalized. This has led to the facility being stripped of Medicare and Medicaid funding and has set the stage for its eventual closure.
Based on a letter that was sent out to residents, the facility is set to close after Oct. 5.
Carlton Bennett, who is representing Marrow and her family, is also part of a wrongful death lawsuit against the facility on behalf of another family.
“It should have been closed years ago. Its staff is incompetent; they don’t care for their patients. They let them lay in feces and urine and don’t respond to their calls for help. There were patients who were screaming out for care, and they wouldn’t answer call bells. What you have here are owners who stripped the facility of proper staffing, and they should be prosecuted,” Bennett stated.
Marrow hopes someone will be held responsible for the pain her mother endured.
“I asked my mom if she wanted me to sue the people, and she said yes, so I'm living to her word,” she said.
A spokesperson for Princess Anne Health and Rehabilitation previously stated they cannot comment on ongoing litigation.
Regarding the facility's status after this weekend, I was informed that the facility is working with the Virginia Department of Health to minimize the disruption of care for its residents.
Bennett said he anticipates both lawsuits against the facility to move forward in court next year.
