JUPITER, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2025) — A wrongful-death suit filed in Palm Beach County this week claims Jupiter Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center didn’t give a former resident the care she needed, and the case landed in circuit court late Monday afternoon under Case No. 502025CA012727XXXAMB.
It’s a Chapter 400 action, the kind that shows up now and then in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, filed by Joanne Turiano on behalf of her mother, Renate Turiano. The filing came through Gordon & Partners out of Northlake Boulevard.
Turiano had been admitted to the Jupiter nursing home on May 16, 2024. She stayed just under a month. The complaint says she died four days after discharge, June 14, 2024, following a stretch of pressure injuries, weight loss, a few missed meds, and several changes in condition that, according to the suit, weren’t documented or handled quite right. These are allegations only, but they’re detailed — eight pages of them.
The suit says her Braden assessments showed she was at risk for skin breakdown, yet the care plan didn’t spell out how often staff should turn or reposition her, or how frequently they should provide incontinent care. Weekly skin checks weren’t available in the chart. When Turiano was sent to Jupiter Medical Center on June 10 — family pushed for it, according to the filing — she was already showing pressure injuries to her sacrum and right heel. A wound consult two days later added a right toe injury and pegged the sacral wound as Stage 3.
The complaint loops back to this a few times, probably because the rehab center’s own notes didn’t include any documentation of pressure wounds. None, the filing says.
Her weight dropped sharply too. From 235 pounds at admission to 194.6 pounds on June 5, then 189.6 pounds by June 8. A 45-pound loss in just over three weeks. Nutrition assessments weren’t available for review; ADL sheets weren’t there either, and the complaint says the record lacks supplements, fortified foods, or even notes about whether she needed help eating. A care plan dated May 22 listed “monitor oral intake,” but that’s about all that survived in the paperwork.
Medication orders became another point of friction. A doctor ordered Marinol on June 1, twice daily, for appetite. First recorded dose: June 5. Megace was ordered June 3 for three days, though it was only given twice. Missing doses stacked up in the filing the way they tend to when records are thin.
A string of undocumented condition changes is also alleged — diarrhea on May 28, cough the next day, a low-grade temp and poor appetite on June 1, more poor appetite on June 3, abdominal pain and weight loss on June 5, then hypotension on June 9 and 10. The complaint says there was no documented evaluation of whether she needed a higher level of care, but the daughter called 911 on June 10 and pushed for a hospital transfer. Fire-rescue notes described Turiano as hypotensive and breathing rapidly upon arrival. Staff reportedly told rescuers she was already being treated for pneumonia and sepsis.
The record gaps don’t stop there. Nursing admission assessments, nutrition notes, ADL flowsheets, multiple change-of-condition assessments — all missing, per the suit. These omissions, the complaint argues, violated the resident-rights provisions in Section 400.022, which set the baseline for care in Florida nursing homes.
Turiano’s survivors are identified as her estate and two adult children, Joanne and Dominick. They’re seeking damages over $50,000, funeral and medical expenses, and the usual wrongful-death losses. A survival claim is included as well.
The original complaint, as filed with the Palm Beach County Clerk of Court, can be viewed here.
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