Suit: San Angelo Nursing Home Left Patient on Her Back Until She Choked, Died

SAN ANGELO, TX — An 83-year-old nursing home resident with a feeding tube was left lying flat on her back after vomiting, which led to her choking death, her daughter alleges in a wrongful death lawsuit against San Angelo Nursing and Rehab and a hospice company that shared her care. 

Annie M. Roberts died Feb. 2, 2023, after being diagnosed with severe aspiration pneumonia and sepsis, according to the petition filed Dec. 30, 2024, in Tom Green County District Court. 

Her daughter, Janice Townes, is suing individually and on behalf of Roberts’ estate. The suit seeks more than $1 million and punitive damages, claiming staff failed to monitor a high-risk patient and then delayed emergency care. 

The petition describes Roberts as a long-term resident of San Angelo Nursing and Rehab, 5455 Knickerbocker Road. She was admitted June 17, 2022, after a 2021 stroke that left her unable to swallow safely. A PEG feeding tube had been placed through her abdomen so staff could give her nutrition, fluids and medicine. That tube, the lawsuit says, put her at much higher risk of choking and aspiration pneumonia if she was laid flat after feedings. 

Townes alleges nursing and hospice staff were required to watch Roberts closely around meals, keep her from lying on her back for long periods after tube feedings, and get her prompt hospital care if her condition changed. The petition says they did not. 

On or about the night of Jan. 17, 2023, into the morning of Jan. 18, Roberts vomited after being left on her back for an extended time and aspirated food and fluids, the suit says. About 6 a.m. Jan. 18, staff found her unresponsive in bed, still lying flat. They called Solaris Hospice but did not immediately notify her physician or family, according to the petition. 

Over the next roughly four hours, the lawsuit says, San Angelo Nursing and Rehab and Solaris Hospice delayed transferring her to a hospital, delayed lab work and treatment, and delayed contacting her family and doctor. Roberts continued to vomit and inhale material during that wait, the petition alleges. She was taken to Shannon Medical Center about 12:15 p.m. only after repeated family requests, the suit says. 

At the hospital, she was placed on a ventilator. She did not recover. On Feb. 2, 2023, the family had the ventilator removed. She died that day of complications from the infections and acute pneumonia, the petition states. Townes says the death was a direct result of inadequate care. 

The lawsuit names SNF SA TG Management, LLC, doing business as San Angelo Nursing and Rehab; SNF 5455 Knickerbocker Road, LLC; Solaris Healthcare, Inc., doing business as Solaris Hospice; and Solaris Hospice, Inc. It alleges medical negligence, corporate negligence, and vicarious liability. Against the nursing home companies, Townes also claims they kept resident “acuity” high to increase Medicare and Medicaid payments while understaffing and underfunding care — “placing profits over their residents and patients.”

Solaris Healthcare and Solaris Hospice filed an original answer Feb. 13, 2025, denying every allegation and demanding strict proof. They plead third-party fault, unavoidable accident, new and independent cause, preexisting conditions, statutory damage caps, settlement offsets and constitutional challenges to punitive damages. 

SNF SA TG Management answered June 9, 2025, also denying the claims — but subject to a motion to compel arbitration. The company says Townes’ claims belong in arbitration, not district court. It invokes Texas Chapter 74 health-care liability limits, including a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages per claimant, comparative fault, contribution credits and the same attacks on punitive damages.

A jury trial is set for 9 a.m. Nov. 2 before District Judge Gonzalo Rios.