Last year, 84-year-old Robert Meyer died after a short stay at a Cincinnati-area nursing home.
Meyer's September 2025 death was at one point ruled a homicide, then in March 2026 his cause of death was changed to "undetermined." An attorney for his family says that finding was made after law enforcement said determining who harmed Meyer would be extremely difficult.
A significant reason: His body had to be exhumed for the autopsy.
Meyer’s family is seeking answers and has filed a wrongful death lawsuit that names Forest Hills Healthcare Center in Anderson Township, which, according to the lawsuit, was where he suffered still-unexplained bruising to his neck and chest.
Defendants in the lawsuit, filed Aug. 31 in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court,
also include Hospice of Cincinnati and individual doctors who attended to Meyer. The lawsuit says he was pronounced dead by a registered nurse, no autopsy was requested − despite the unexplained injuries − and no physician examined his body.
Because no autopsy was requested, that made it difficult for law enforcement to investigate his death.
A spokesman for the company that operates Forest Hills denied claims of abuse and neglect, saying: "We did everything correct in the care of the patient and remain confident that when all of the facts and evidence are presented in the appropriate legal forum, they will demonstrate that the allegations against our caregivers are unfounded."
Representatives for Hospice of Cincinnati did not respond to The Enquirer's calls or emails seeking comment.
Jeff Heller, an attorney representing Meyer's family, said their goal is to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
“They entrusted this facility with their dad who they weren’t capable of taking care of anymore," Heller said.
What happened to Robert Meyer?
Meyer was confined to a bed and dependent on others. In July 2025, after his family determined they could no longer care for him, Meyer was taken to Forest Hills Healthcare Center.
During his first weeks at the facility, according to the lawsuit, he lost about 30 pounds, developed severe malnutrition and endured unmanaged pain.
Meyer called 911 from the nursing home at least four times. In one call, according to the lawsuit, he said he was “not being taken care of by staff.”
In late August 2025, after a 911 call from Meyer, he was admitted to Mercy Health-Anderson Hospital, complaining of pain. He stayed there for several days and while there, no bruises or fractures were documented.
On Sept. 1, 2025, he was discharged back to Forest Hills, and the admitting nurse there documented that he had a bruise on the right side of his neck. Bruising on his neck was documented several other times in the following days.
The lawsuit says the injury was never meaningfully investigated or reported to law enforcement, which it says is required under Ohio law.
Family's concerns about bruises
Meyer’s daughter was concerned about the bruises and took photos of his neck on Sept. 2, 2025, and Sept. 4, 2025. According to the lawsuit, a forensic pathologist who later reviewed those photos said they showed “a patterned signature of external force applied around” Meyer’s neck.
Meyer was transferred Sept. 4, 2025, to a hospice facility in Blue Ash where he died two days later. And even though hospice staff were aware of “a large” area of bruising of unknown origin on Meyer’s neck, according to the lawsuit, the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office was not notified and no autopsy was performed. A hospice doctor listed it as a natural death caused by “protein-calorie malnutrition.”
There was a funeral, and Meyer was buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Milford.
But his family continued to want answers about what happened to him and reached out to investigators with the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office. A case was opened Sept. 18, and Meyer’s body was exhumed on Sept. 22 – 16 days after his death – so an autopsy could be performed.
That autopsy found “unexplained severe neck and upper chest” bruises, with internal bleeding extending to his spine, as well as unexplained rib and sternum fractures.
In November 2025, the coroner’s office determined that Meyer’s death had been a homicide caused by “physical elder abuse.”
Then on March 3, the cause of death was changed to "undetermined."
Medical providers have a legal responsibility to notify the coroner’s office of a suspicious death, according to the lawsuit, and the failures to investigate and report Meyer’s injuries before his burial compromised the ability to determine who caused them.
In addition to wrongful death, the lawsuit alleges medical negligence, failure to report suspected abuse or neglect, and reckless and willful misconduct.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Family files wrongful death lawsuit against Cincinnati nursing home
