OLIVE BRANCH SENIOR CARE NURSING HOME, TALLULAH, LOUISIANA MARY JANE EILAND, Rev.Walter E. Friese, St. David's Episcopal Church, Rayville, La. Dr. Edward He A Louisiana state court jury has awarded $1 million to the daughter of a nursing home resident who died from infected bedsores during his 26-day stay at the facility. TALLULAH Louisiana

     A Louisiana state court jury has awarded $1 million to the daughter of a  nursing home resident who died from infected bedsores during his 26-day stay at  the facility.

After a five-day trial the 12-member jury found that the facility's staff  neglected 84-year-old Leon Nelms, causing his November 2004 death.

Brown Development Inc. and D. Brown Enterprises Inc. own and operate the  Olive Branch Senior Care nursing home in Tallulah, La.

Nelms' daughter, Everline King, sued the companies in the Madison Parish 6th  Judicial District Court.

According to the lawsuit, Nelms was admitted to the facility in October 2004.  King said her father had no significant injuries or complications from his  declining health at the time. He did have a small, early-stage bedsore on his  left hip, but there was no evidence of infection, she said.

The sore worsened, become infected, and Nelms developed another infected  bedsore on his right hip during his short stay at Olive Branch. He also suffered  dehydration, malnutrition and significant weight loss, dropping 16 pounds in one  week, the suit said.

The left-hip infection allegedly became contaminated from Nelms' feces and  spread into his bone, according to the suit. He was taken to a hospital Nov. 16,  2004, and died six days later from the infections.

The suit alleged medical malpractice and ordinary negligence. King sought  wrongful-death damages on her own behalf and survival damages of behalf of her  father's estate for his alleged pain, suffering and loss of dignity.

The defendants maintained that Nelms received good care during his stay at  the facility. They said the left-hip bedsore was already infected and his health  already was declining when he entered the home.

After a trial the jury awarded King $500,000 in wrongful-death damages and  $250,000 in survival damages for Nelms' pain and suffering. Jurors tacked on  another $250,000 for the facility's failure to clean Nelms' bodily waste.

King's lawyer, Kim Ramsey Norris of Nix, Patterson & Roach in Shreveport,  La., said she was proud to represent King, who took her father in and cared for  him for more than two years before he had to enter the nursing home.

"It was tragic for her to lose her father the way she did, just one month  after he went to Olive Branch," Norris said. "It was a difficult and courageous  decision for her to sue the nursing home."

Defense counsel declined to comment on the verdict.