NOTE: Updated June 28
Mary Sliwinski stands on Smith Road on Fairlawn every day, holding a sign for passing traffic to see.
She's protesting an ongoing court battle with the Village at St. Edward, the nursing home where her mother, Alice Sekerak, died.
"I want the truth to be told," Sliwinski said.
Her case, which is pending in Summit County Common Pleas Court, alleges that her mother was generally healthy when she entered the Village at St. Edward in late 2005 for rehab following a mild stroke.
Eleven weeks later, she died -- due, Sliwinski said, to dehydration from severe diarrhea.
The suit alleges that Sekerak developed diarrhea after the nursing home's former medical director, Robert Norman, changed her medication, and that he failed to change it back -- or treat the dehydration -- when the symptoms persisted.
Attorney Bret Perry, representing the Village at St. Edward, did not return a call seeking comment.
John J. Hennelly, president and CEO of the Village at St. Edward, released a statement June 28 that said in part "We are saddened when any of our residents dies and we understand the sorrow of any family. All at the Village take very seriously our responsibility to provide quality care to those entrusted to us."
Hennelly said the Village has served thousands of older adults over the last 50 years, and Sliwinski's was the first suit seeking compensation over a patient's care.
"The Village at St. Edward has maintained and continues to maintain a very positive reputation in the community and with regulatory authorities," he said in the statement.
Sliwinski, who filed suit in late 2006 and has since dropped and refiled the case, is seeking damages in the wrongful death of her mother, but said she also wants to bring attention to the need for oversight in nursing home care.
"It's scary," she said. "This can happen even if you're there every single day for your loved one."
According to Sliwinski and court documents, the Ohio Department of Health completed a survey oh her mother's case shortly before she died regarding quality of care issues.
Sliwinski, who lives in Medina, started her daily protests in early June when it appeared that the nursing home would win its battle to keep that survey out of the court testimony. Nor will she be able to take depositions from those involved in the survey.
"What are they hiding?" she asked. "I'm not trying to bad-mouth anyone. I just want to make people aware things like this are going on."
A pre-trial in the case is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 15.
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