KING

Seventy-nine-year-old Florence Pierpoint.

McKENNA, Wash. -- A Pierce County nursing home is under fire after a patient died from an overdose of morphine.

Seventy-nine-year-old Florence Pierpoint was diagnosed with lung cancer, but that's not what killed her.

According to a Pierce County medical examiner, she died from acute morphine poisoning administered by health care providers at Nisqually Valley Care Center in November 2004.

Her daughter, Linda Fox, is now suing the nursing home for neglect and abuse.

"They were euthanizing my mother," Fox said. "If that was truly their intent to put a quiet end to her suffering, wouldn’t they bother to tell the family?"

After a bout of pneumonia in the hospital, Pierpoint's condition had improved and she was moved to the nursing home with a doctor's prescription for morphine.

The nursing home put her in comfort care, meaning morphine would only be used only if she was in pain and asked for it.

Nisqually Valley Care Center says: "She requested comfort care through Hospice. It's basically a humane way to allow someone not to die in pain."

But attorney Ron Meyers said that not one record indicated she was in pain.

"In fact there are notations in the record that indicate that she was experiencing acute morphine toxicity and overdose and they continued to give her morphine," he said.

The Pierce County prosecutor decided not to press criminal charges against the nursing home.

They didn't think they could get a conviction.

But Pierpoint's family wants justice for a woman they say died from abusive care.

"It's complete incompetence and neglect," Fox said.