Court overturns $4.85M wrongful death award

MONROE, Mich. (AP) -- The Michigan Court of Appeals has overturned a $4.85 million wrongful death award issued by a jury to the family of a man who died in 2002 after being given a morphine overdose. The Monroe Evening News reports the case involved Mercy Memorial Nursing Center, which cared for 76-year-old Burr Needham while he was recovering from a broken hip. The court in a ruling this month said there was insufficient evidence that such an amount was warranted. A Circuit Court jury in 2010 ruled that the nursing center was negligent. The appeals court supported the jury's negligence finding. The medical examiner ruled Needham's death a homicide from acute morphine intoxication. No criminal charges were filed after an investigation by the Monroe County sheriff's office and the Michigan attorney general. Published: Wed, Oct 16, 2013