Elder Law

Nursing Home Allows Dementia Resident To Wander Leading To Her Death

By Levin & Perconti

Mercury News reported on Wednesday on a new lawsuit filed against a negligent nursing home. The victimized resident was brought to Sunshine Villa Assisted Living in April. She suffered from dementia, which was one of the main reasons why her sons felt she needed close care at an assisted living facility. In addition, the 74 year old resident liked to take walks, so her son paid additional money for a monitoring device known as a WanderGuard to cut down the risk of his mother unknowingly getting herself into trouble.

Her two sons made the nursing home staff members perfectly aware that their mother?s walking habit with dementia made it vital that she be closely watched. His mother was nervous when she arrived on the first day; she expressed concerns about wanting to leave. Her sons considered taking her back, but they were reassured by nursing home staff that good care would be taken of their loved one. The sons stayed with their mother for most of the first day to reassure her?leaving the facility around 5pm. The last time anyone saw her alive was a half hour later at 5:30pm.

The resident was unaccounted for the next five hours. It wasn?t until 10:30pm that nursing home staff members discovered she was missing. They called her sons, and a search was conducted. The resident was missing for three days. She was eventually found dead outside in the community. She had suffered from hypothermia and exposure.

It is clear that the nursing home failed on multiple fronts to provide the care the dementia resident needed in this case. They failed to ensure that the resident was wearing her monitoring device, didn?t have auditory monitoring devices on the exits, improperly trained staff to prevent wandering, and didn?t have any set plans or policies to handle dementia patient risks.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on November 19, 2010 (boomark / email).