Trio of nurses accused of negligence that led to man's toe amputation

The mother of a disabled man is suing three registered nurses, claiming their negligence resulted in the amputation of her son's toe.

Barbara Rowan, as plenary guardian of Neal S. Rowan, filed suit April 1 in the Cook County Circuit Court against Paulette Garza, Lillian Burton and Edward Cole.

According to the suit, Neal, was a resident at the Elizabeth Ludeman Developmental Center at 114 N. Orchard Drive in Park Forest, where the defendants worked and he was supposed to receive one-on-one care.

Rowan claims Neal had an episode that could have prevented had he been given one-on-one care. The episode, the suit alleges, resulted in Neal fracturing one of his big toes, which was so severely injured it had to be amputated.

She is seeking more than $50,000 in damages and is being represented by Chicago attorney Margaret P. Battersby Black and Katherine M. Moorhouse of Levin & Perconti.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014L003698.

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt, and it only represents one side of the story.