Family expects to file suit over nursing home death

The family of a woman who died under suspicious circumstances at a McHenry County nursing home where two workers have been indicted for endangering patients is planning a lawsuit against the facility's former owners, their attorney said Monday.

The suit, to be filed by Cary resident Vickie Lund on behalf of her mother, Virginia Cole, would be the first filed in connection with as many as six mysterious deaths in 2006 that sparked a 15-month state police investigation into the Woodstock Residence.

The investigation culminated Friday when police arrested former Woodstock Residence nurse Marty Himebaugh on allegations she gave four patients, including Cole, dangerous doses of morphine or other drugs in 2006.

Authorities also arrested the home's director of nursing, Penny Whitlock, on charges she not only permitted Himebaugh's actions, but told the nurse she could serve as an "Angel of Death."

The charges do not specifically accuse the women of intentionally killing any of the home's residents, although all four patients named in the indictments are now deceased. Authorities have declined to say whether they died as a result of drug overdoses.

Cole, whose body was one of three exhumed during the state police inquiry, died in Sept. 10, 2006, about the same time charges allege Himebaugh recklessly administered a dose of morphine to the 78-year-old woman.

Her family intends to name Himebaugh and Whitlock as defendants in the lawsuit, along with nursing home's former owners WRHC & RC Inc., attorney Steven Levin said. The facility came under new ownership in December.

"It frightens me to think that two health-care professionals would violate the law and endanger the lives of residents without anyone at the nursing home stopping them," Lund said in a statement this morning. "Woodstock Residence betrayed our trust."

Himebaugh, 57, of Lake in the Hills, faces four counts of criminal neglect of a long-term care facility resident and single counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and unlawful distribution of a controlled substance. All charges are Class 4 felonies punishable by one to three years in prison.

The charges allege that between April and September 2006 she gave four patients morphine or other drugs either without a prescription or in doses larger than what was prescribed.

She is free on $50,000 bond and scheduled to appear in court on the charges April 17. Her attorney said last week she will fight the charges and expects to be cleared.

Whitlock, 58, of Woodstock, is charged with five counts of criminal neglect of a long-term care facility resident and two counts of obstructing justice, also Class 4 felonies. She also is free on $50,000 bond and due in court April 17.

Levin said Monday he will file the lawsuit in Cook County circuit court, but could not say when.