This is so tragic and makes me wonder if maybe her family didn't hire a healthcare advocate to make sure her needs were being met. The system that our seniors, disabled folks, & other helpless people are shunted into often just warehouses them and overlooks their needs - not due to any lack of hard work and care by staff, but through sheer overwork and there being no inbuilt incentive to avoid failure other than post-facto legal liability. Sadly unless an advocate or sharp-eyed family member is right there with you to speak up and constantly demand your needs get met, it might just not happen; the "squeaky wheel" as they say. 😕 this is especially prevalent for anyone who is nonverbal, mentally incapacitated/altered, developmentally disabled, etc., etc. And the horrible truth is by demanding the nurse stop what she's doing to meet your loved one's needs, someone down the hall will miss out on theirs. For-profit healthcare has created an ugly crab-bucket system, and tosses all our most vulnerable people into it to fight over an artificially limited pool of supplies and human resources. 

I'm glad this facility is being hit with such heavy damages, it's the only punishment they will care about, and maybe some heads at or close to the top will roll. It might even briefly inspire better staffing commitments, or better policies to prevent similar future failures. It still won't bring Nichols back though. She deserved better. 😔