Family joins class action against Bupa Aged Care Australia
Tom Nemaric, 92, fell while in respite care but the home didn’t send him to hospital, and he died weeks later.
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EXCLUSIVE: This is the shocking photo of 92-year-old Tom Nemaric that haunts his grieving family.
It was taken the day after he fell while in respite care at an aged care facility, where the home thought it was better if he didn’t go to hospital in case it distressed him.
His family insisted he go when they say saw his bruised and swollen face the next day.
But they were stunned to find that the hospital sent Mr Nemaric back to Bupa Bellarine Lakes, near Geelong, in Victoria, without scanning him.
Over the ensuing weeks his family noted that he stopped eating and complained of pain.
In August 2021, two months after the fall and when Mr Nemaric was back under the care of his family, his GP organised scans which revealed he had a broken jaw, the mandible bone had detached, he was suffering from a bleed on the brain, a collapsed bladder and a crush fracture of his T12 vertebrae.
He died weeks later.
His death certificate said his cause of death was due to “complications following a fall in an elderly man with dementia and cardiac comorbidities”.
Now the family has joined a class action against Bupa Aged Care Australia headed by Echo Law.
They also feel let down by the aged care watchdog which found it was “unable to substantiate when these significant injuries occurred”, as the grandfather had left the aged care facilitiy where he was having respite care by the time he had the scans.
“It’s just our word against all of these ‘professionals’, who seemly still think what he received was adequate treatment and care,” his granddaughter Jess Nemaric, 34, said.
“Many of our conversations with staff about his pain weren’t documented in the Bupa notes. I feel like that makes it easier for everyone to brush us off.
“Every time I spoke to him in the last months of his life he used to tell me he was in pain and he just wanted to die, and be finished. I try not to go there in my mind, because it breaks me.
“The suggestion that we would traumatise him by giving him adequate medical care baffles me. I just will never understand this or be able to rationalise it in my mind.”
Echo Law alleges that between July 1, 2019 and April 11, 2025 Bupa failed to provide the quality of care it promised to residents, and that it was required to deliver under law.
It said hundreds of people had come forward with allegedly similar stories about Bupa, which has 50 facilities in Australia, and at other aged care homes.
“Bupa’s own reporting confirms widespread understaffing and failures to meet the minimum acceptable level of care required under Australian law at each of its aged care facilities,”
Echo Law Senior Associate Dr Lauren Meath said.
Ms Nemaric, from Melbourne, said her grandfather, known as ‘Nono’, had been physically fit, loved gardening and had a penchant for Madeira cake before he went into the home for respite.
A spokesman for Bupa said due to the live class action it could not comment on any allegations.
However, a spokesman said the company had “continued to invest in our people, our leadership teams, and our model of care across our care homes – and our recent quality, compliance and resident and family survey outcomes reflect this”.
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