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WILKES-BARRE — Two Timber Ridge Health Care Center employees caused an 84-year-old woman’s death when they dropped the city native and longtime nurse from a mechanical lift 12 days after she was admitted to the facility, a lawsuit filed this week in federal court alleges.

Eleanor Rooney Corrado suffered a head injury and fractures to her leg and hip in the three-foot fall as the nurses attempted to transfer her from her bed to a chair in October 2015, states the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Corrado’s husband, Ernest Corrado. She was admitted to an area hospital but died less than 12 hours later. Her cause of death was listed as cardio respiratory arrest, complications of hip/pelvic fracture and fall from lift device.

Corrado, the lawsuit states, lived with her husband in Pasco County, Florida, prior to being admitted to Timber Ridge. Attempts to reach Ernest Corrado Tuesday were unsuccessful. His attorney, Joseph G. Price, of Dougherty, Leventhal and Price, did not return a message seeking comment Tuesday.

Corrado, who spent approximately 40 years in the nursing field, was born in Wilkes-Barre in 1931, according to her obituary. A 1949 graduate of St. Nicholas High School, she was as employed as nurse at Mercy Hospital in Wilkes-Barre and spent 25 years working at the Valley Crest Nursing Home until her retirement in 1995.

Valley Crest, also named in the lawsuit, owns and operates Timber Ridge, located at 1555 East End Blvd. in Wilkes-Barre.

Corrado had an additional life expectancy of about seven years, but suffered a premature death due to the unnamed employees’ negligence as well as the nursing home’s failure to maintain professional standards and adhere to regulations regarding delivery of support services, the lawsuit states. The suit further alleges the state Department of Health reported Timber Ridge failed to maintain such standards “on multiple occasions.”

A woman who answered the phone Tuesday at Timber Ridge deferred comment to an administrator, who did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the lawsuit.

The suit seeks damages in excess of $75,000 related to loss of retirement and social security benefits as well as related costs.

Eleanor Rooney Corrado, 84, died in October 2015 from injuries sustained in a fall from a mechanical lift inside Timber Ridge Health Care Center on East End Boulevard in Wilkes-Barre, according to a lawsuit filed this week in federal court. Corrado was allegedly dropped by two unnamed nurses.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_106583426_web_Corrado_obitphoto_20151021.jpg.optimal.jpgEleanor Rooney Corrado, 84, died in October 2015 from injuries sustained in a fall from a mechanical lift inside Timber Ridge Health Care Center on East End Boulevard in Wilkes-Barre, according to a lawsuit filed this week in federal court. Corrado was allegedly dropped by two unnamed nurses. Times Leader file

The Timber Ridge Health Care Center, located on East End Boulevard in Wilkes-Barre, was sued for negligence this week in federal court.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_TTL012417Timberridge1.jpg.optimal.jpgThe Timber Ridge Health Care Center, located on East End Boulevard in Wilkes-Barre, was sued for negligence this week in federal court. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

By Joe Dolinsky

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Reach Joe Dolinsky at 570-991-6110 or on Twitter @JoeDolinskyTL