A New Jersey family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a Livingston nursing home, alleging that a 76-year-old bed-bound resident developed a severe pressure sore, a urinary tract infection, and fatal sepsis after receiving substandard care at a facility with a documented history of understaffing violations.
According to the complaint filed in Essex County Superior Court, Margarita Williams was a resident of Livingston Post Acute Care from April 24, 2025, until July 27, 2025. The lawsuit, brought by her son, alleges that the facility failed to regularly reposition her, perform comprehensive assessments, provide adequate wound care, and maintain sufficient nursing staff.
The complaint states that Williams progressively developed severe bedsores on her lower back, a urinary tract infection, and systemic sepsis, all of which it alleges were preventable. Clinical staff allegedly documented “unmistakable signs” that her sacral wound had become septic on July 23, 2025, yet she was kept at the facility for four more days. She was transferred on an emergency basis to Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center on July 27, 2025, and died fewer than 48 hours later, on July 29, 2025. Her cause of death was listed as cardiopulmonary arrest secondary to septic shock stemming from her sacral pressure ulcer and urinary tract infection, according to the suit.
The reporting notes that Livingston Post Acute Care, a 124-bed for-profit skilled nursing facility, has repeatedly failed to comply with minimum direct-care staffing ratios set by the New Jersey Department of Health. In November 2024, the state determined the staffing violations were “widespread” and had “the potential for more than minimal harm,” fining the facility $28,000. Additional staffing violations in January 2026 carried a $57,000 penalty. The facility’s administrator stated that quality of care is “always at the forefront” and “categorically” denied the allegations in the complaint.
The allegations in this case follow a pattern that families and regulators see repeatedly in nursing home neglect. Pressure injuries are largely preventable with routine repositioning, skin assessment, and adequate wound care. When they are allowed to progress and become infected, the result can be sepsis, a life-threatening emergency that demands immediate hospital-level treatment. The lawsuit ties the alleged care failures directly to chronic understaffing, the same deficiency state inspectors had already documented and penalized. This case arrives amid broader scrutiny of for-profit nursing homes across New Jersey over staffing shortages and neglect.
A pressure ulcer that advances to septic shock is rarely an isolated accident. It is often the visible end point of missed repositioning, skipped assessments, and delayed transfers, and those failures frequently trace back to a facility that does not have enough staff at the bedside. When a state health department has already cited a facility for widespread staffing violations, families are right to ask whether those same gaps contributed to their loved one’s decline. If your family is facing questions about a bedsore, infection, or preventable death in a nursing home, Bedsore.Law can help you obtain the records, examine the facility’s staffing history, and pursue accountability. Call 844-407-6737 or reach us at bedsore.law/contact.
NJ.com: N.J. nursing home with history of violations faces wrongful death suit
