A court ordered Kalkaska (Mich.) Memorial Health Center and three relatives of a patient treated at the hospital to mediate their dispute over a critical Facebook post made by the relatives, according to a Traverse City Record Eagle report.
Kalkaska Memorial Health Center will have to go to trial in six months with three relatives of 94-year-old Eleanor Pound, who received care at the hospital, if the court-ordered mediation efforts are unsuccessful.
The court order comes after Kalkaska Memorial Health Center filed a lawsuit against Ms. Pound's relatives for posting a negative Facebook post about their relative's care and picketing the hospital with "critical messages." The hospital claimed the moves constituted defamation, tortious interference and an invasion of privacy, the Traverse City Record Eagle reported in early July.
Ms. Pound's granddaughter, Aliza Morse — who is named in the lawsuit with Ms. Pound's daughters Carol Pound and Diane Pound — made a lengthy, public post on Facebook May 5 to express her frustrations with the hospital's care of her grandmother and how staff members treated her and other family members. The frustrations included being forbidden from visiting their elderly relative. Carol Pound also picketed outside of the hospital in retaliation, according to the Traverse City Record Eagle.
The hospital's lawsuit claims that the three defendants verbally abused their family member, ignored dietary restrictions, withheld meals from her, instructed her not to take medications and verbally abused hospital employees. As a result, the hospital authority said it prohibited Ms. Pound's relatives from visiting.
Ms. Pound has since been transferred to a facility downstate, according to the report. Discovery deadlines for the case are scheduled through August and September, with a final completion date set for the end of November.
Alia Paavola contributed to this article.
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