Miller, her sister, Loretta Miller, and their stepfather, Larry Hendrickson, are suing Genesis ElderCare about the death of Doris Hendrickson at the nursing center on Julian Road.

The relatives have accused the center of negligent care and are seeking $1 million in damages.

But Toni White, who worked with Angela Miller in the past and who currently works at Genesis, said Miller told her “she (Hendrickson) made her life hell.” And that is why Angela married and moved away from home at 16, according to White.

After the defense rested, Miller retook the stand and said she never confided in White regarding the relationship she had with her mother.

The family’s attorney, Roman Pibl, argued that the family suffered a great deal of emotional distress by witnessing the poor care Hendrickson received at Genesis.

Hendrickson died at the facility after her neck became lodged between her mattress and bed rail.

Both attorneys continued to argue about the purpose of the bed rails. Pibl and the family say the bed rails were used as a restraint and amounted to a violation of Hendrickson’s patient rights.

But an expert witness for Genesis said that Hendrickson had suffered a massive stroke and could only move her left hand.

“There is no movement they could restrict,” nursing expert Martha Baker said Tuesday.

With Baker on the stand it sounded like a battle between three lawyers.

Baker maintained that Genesis used the bed rails “for safety and positioning.”

“Safety from what?” Pibl asked.

He asked if Hendrickson couldn’t move in the bed, why were the bed rails even needed.

But Baker stuck by her opinion.

Ironically, Baker testified in another trial for John Golding, the Genesis’ attorney. In that trial, Pibl pointed out, Baker said, “I personally consider side rails a restraint.” She also said siderails used as a restraint “have been proven to cause more accidents and more injury than by being used as a safety device.”

After reviewing the files, Baker said the facility took excellent care of Doris Hendrickson and documented her care and progress well.

“I’m sorry Mr.Pibl, but I like statistics,” Baker said in a side remark to Pibl. She referred to analysis of the staff’s care for Hendrickson, showing the staff made progress reports on the elderly woman 4.4 times a day.

Pibl pointed that Baker’s math was wrong, that the staff actually wrote about half that number daily. He also noted several other documentation errors by the nursing staff.

Baker responded: “I didn’t see any documentation errors that affected the outcome of this case.”

Baker argued with Pibl, and the back-and-forth between the two lawyers continued.

Finally, Judge Larry Ford reminded the two lawyers that he was “the head nurse here, to quote Ms. Baker.”

Earlier in the day, Connie Morgan, a licensed practical nurse at Genesis, said she hasn’t come to any logical explanation of how Hendrickson could have gotten lodged between the bed rails and the mattress.

“I thought it was very odd. It was an odd situation,” Morgan said.

And other nurses agreed. Robin Williams, licensed practical nurse, said Hendrickson’s mattress was pushed over to the other side of the bed, leaving a space between the bed rail and the mattress.