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Family Files Lawsuit Against Entertainment Industry Hospital

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Family members of an Alzheimer's disease patient who died last year following a fall at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills have filed a lawsuit against the health care facility.

The lawsuit alleges 89-year-old Carrie Delay was left unsupervised when she fell off a landing between the first and second floors of the facility the afternoon of Oct. 17.

The fall resulted in a severe fracture to her spine, as well as numerous cuts and bruises, and she died of her injuries a week later, according to the lawsuit filed Feb. 14 in Van Nuys Superior Court.

Attorneys representing the family allege the fall took place nearly 300 feet from where the woman was left unsupervised. They say she also passed a nursing station and went behind a fire door which she was not capable of opening herself.

Delay lived at hospital for nearly a decade.

Prior to her fall, Delay attended a church activity on the facility's first floor and was transported back to her room on the second floor, her family's lawyers say, and left outside her room at a table in full view of nurses and a nearby nursing station.

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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