WARREN — The estate of Margaret A. Lightner has sued Warren Nursing & Rehab, 2473 North Road, in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, alleging medical negligence, recklessness, wrongful death, Resident’s Rights Law violations, civil conspiracy and fraud.

The suit, filed last month, states that Lightner, of Niles, died May 7, 2025, after the facility accepted her as a short-term rehabilitation resident on or about March 31, 2025 “to provide rehabilitation care and treatment as she recovered from surgery to repair a broken vertebrae in her spine.” She was 60 when she entered the facility.

The suit states that Lightner’s back surgery and hospitalization “went smoothly, and her attending surgeon and treating doctors expected Margaret to make a full recovery and return to living independently at home after a short course of rehabilitation.”

The suit states that Lightner was prescribed pain medication by her treating doctors to reduce the pain from her broken vertebrae and surgery, and that the defendants knew that these medications can cause severe constipation.

“While under defendant’s care and supervision in late March through early May 2025, the defendants failed to monitor Margaret for signs and symptoms of constipation, missing completely that Margaret had not had a bowel movement for several weeks,” the suit alleges.

For several days before Lightner died, Lightner developed nausea and vomiting and was “not acting like her usual self, becoming withdrawn and lethargic,” the suit states.

When family members saw Lighter in serious distress May 6, 2025, they insisted that staff call an ambulance to take Lightner to St. Joseph Warren Hospital, the suit states.

At the hospital, she was diagnosed with severe fecal impaction, which resulted in stretching and compressing of the walls of her colon, “resulting in portions of her colon losing blood flow and dying off,” the suit states.

She suffered a colon perforation, causing feces and bacteria to leak into her abdomen, leading to infection and a life-threatening medical emergency, the suit states.

During surgery, her entire colon was removed, and she remained extremely ill and unstable and died the next day, the suit states. Her death certificate states that she died from septic shock due to a perforated colon, the suit states.

A reporter called Warren Nursing & Rehab Wednesday morning seeking comment on the lawsuit. A woman said she would pass on the request to the corporate office, but no one returned the call as of 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The suit alleges that the defendants failed to ensure through their operational, budgetary and consultation and managerial decisions and actions, that the facilities were sufficiently staffed to meet the individual needs of its residents, including Margaret Lightner.

The suit states that the nursing home is also known as Warren Nursing & Rehab — Providing Onsite Dialysis & Ventilator. The suit was filed by attorneys Michael Hill, Matthew Mooney and Molly Morris of Cleveland.

The suit seeks at least $125,000 in damages against the defendants. The defendants have not yet filed a written response to the lawsuit.