Death of Des Moines nursing home resident leads to negligence lawsuit

A Des Moines nursing home with a history of violations related to resident injuries is now being sued by the family of a woman who died, allegedly after being dropped to the floor by caregivers.

The estate of Lena K. Rocha is suing Des Moines’ Scottish Rite Park Health Care Center in Polk County District Court.

The lawsuit alleges Roch had a documented history of falls at the facility, and that there had been multiple incidents involving the improper transfer of other residents prior to Rocha’s death earlier this year.

According to the lawsuit, “Scottish Rite had dropped and/or failed to properly transfer” Rocha on multiple occasions in December 2022, July 2023, January 2024, May 2024 and August 2024. Rocha’s family allegedly met with Scottish Rite Park leaders on numerous occasions prior to May 2026 to discuss the incidents and how they might be prevented in the future.

The lawsuit claims that on April 29, 2026, Scottish Rite Park employees were transferring Rocha using a mechanical lift when they “negligently dropped” Rocha from the device. According to the lawsuit, Rocha “was dropped on her head and face, striking it first on the hard floor of the Scottish Rite facility.”

The lawsuit alleges A state investigation concluded that a “loop” used to hold Rocha within the lift had detached, and that the Scottish Rite Park staff had admitted they failed to follow the protocol that requires them to check all of the loops to ensure they were securely attached before attempting to transfer a resident.

The lawsuit asserts Rocha sustained serious head injuries from the fall and died on May 8, 2026, with the cause of death listed as “complications of subdural and subarachnoid hematoma” stemming from “blunt head trauma” due to a fall at Scottish Rite Park.

State records show Scottish Rite Park was cited and fined by state inspectors for having caused “severe harm” and “life-threatening injuries” in the incident.

Scottish Rite’s conduct ’caused catastrophic injuries and death,” the lawsuit alleges. It seeks unspecified compensatory damages for negligence, recklessness, wrongful death, dependent adult abuse and breach of contract.

The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages, in part due to what it characterizes as Scottish Rite Park’s “repeated failures, despite actual knowledge of the danger and explicit promises of corrective action” related to the use of mechanical lifts.

Scottish Rite Park has yet to file a response to the lawsuit. Iowa Capital Dispatch was not able to reach the home’s administrator, Daniel Boor, for comment Thursday.

State records indicate Scottish Rite was cited by the state in February 2024 for allegedly dropping a resident – not Rocha — from a mechanical lift, resulting in that resident sustaining a fractured shoulder. Later that year, the home was cited for allegedly failing to properly transfer a different resident, resulting in the individual sustaining a fractured ankle. In January 2025, the state cited Scottish Rite Park for allegedly failing to ensure the certified nursing assistants were competent in performing safe resident transfers.

After the incident involving Rocha, the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing initially assessed a $7,750 fine and then tripled that to $23,250 due to it being the second resident-safety citation in the past 12 months.

However, state records show the facility had last been cited for a resident-safety violation in January 2025, which was 15 months before the April 29, 2026, incident — outside the 12-month window for tripling the fine.

After the Iowa Capital Dispatch asked DIAL whether a separate resident-safety violation had been cited in the past year but not publicly disclosed, the department checked its records and reversed course on the tripling of the penalty, bringing it back down to $7,750.

DIAL’s records show the January 2025 penalty against Scottish Rite Park was itself a tripled fine due to the repeat nature of that violation. Originally, Scottish Rite Park was to be penalized $5,000 for injuries sustained by a resident who fell and fractured an ankle while the staff was transferring her to a recliner. Because the home had been cited in July 2024 for a similar safety violation involving a resident transfer, the January 2025 penalty was then tripled from $5,000 to $15,000.