A Westmoreland County jury started hearing arguments Tuesday in a wrongful death lawsuit in which the family of a 90-year-old Acme woman claims the nursing home where she lived was negligent in her care and caused her death.

The estate for Olive Shaffer contends she received inadequate care during her stay at Harmon House in Mt. Pleasant in July 2003. Shaffer fell several times while living in the nursing home and died July 22, 2003, from injuries she sustained in her falls, her family claims.

Peter Giglione, attorney for the Shaffer estate, told jurors that workers at the nursing home falsified records, violated internal policies and were generally negligent in how they watched over Shaffer.

"This case is not about perfect care, it's about basic care. She was a typical nursing home patient, and she was there for help," Giglione said in an opening statement to the jury.

The Shaffer family is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages from the nursing home and its management company, O'Hara-based Grane Healthcare Co. in Allegheny County.

Olive Shaffer went to Harmon House on April 30, 2003, to continue rehabilitation from a broken pelvis she suffered in a fall at her home, where she had lived alone.

The Shaffer family contends that Shaffer fell several times in the nursing home in June, and the staff made insufficient efforts to prevent her from taking more tumbles.

In the lawsuit, the family said Shaffer fell twice on July 15, 2003, and she suffered catastrophic injuries, including brain swelling. She died from her injuries a week later, according to the suit.

Representatives for Harmon House and Grane said in court yesterday that Shaffer's death was not caused by any wrongdoing or negligence on the part of the nursing home's staff.

Attorney John Bass said Shaffer was an independent woman who did not like having to ask for help to get around, and the staff did all they could to prevent her from falling. He told jurors that statistics indicate that 50 percent of nursing home residents take falls in their first six months in a facility.

"Ninety-year-old women fall. Things happen, falls happen," Bass said. "Falls are not preventable. The only way to prevent it is to tie them up, and the law doesn't allow that."

The trial before Westmoreland County Judge William J. Ober is expected to last about eight days.