Nursing Home’s Failure to Provide Adequate Protection to Elderly Patient in Boca Raton, Florida Results in Tragic Death
Many families are faced with the very disturbing possibility of having to place their elderly loved ones in a nursing home or assisted living facility. With that realization comes the understanding that you must find a facility that will provide adequate care and protection for your elderly family member so that you will not have to worry about their well-being on a daily basis. Unfortunately, in many cases that is far from reality.
The victim in this Florida nursing home case was 81 years old at the time of her death. She died as a result of a large right hemispheric subdural hematoma. She had been an inpatient at a Boca Raton adult community facility for several months and had been admitted with a diagnosis of hypertension, arthritis and senile dementia, Alzheimer’s type. With the help of her children, she had signed a contract for an apartment and continuous life care. Within this adult community was not only a skilled nursing facility, but an Alzheimer’s facility to which she could be admitted if needed.
This elderly lady had sold her home up north after her husband passed away and took all of those profits to buy into the facility where she and her family believed she would be taken care of for the rest of her life; going from an apartment to a skilled facility and to an Alzheimer’s facility if necessary. Their belief of total care, as represented by this facility, was sadly not true. This victim had a very close and doting family who were quite traumatized by the method of her death. She was admitted to Boca Raton Community Hospital with decreased mental status, and a CT scan of the head showed the large right hemispheric subdural hematoma with a shift right to left, most of which was chronic with acute components. The family was devastated to learn that apparently their mother had sustained blunt trauma to her brain and head, not only once, but several times.
The family believed that this was a case of inadequate and inappropriate protective and supportive services for their mother and contacted Attorney Richard D. Schuler for his assistance. Mr. Schuler investigated the case fully and advised the facility that his investigation revealed that the facility not only consistently failed to provide adequate protective and supportive services for this victim, but that the center knew of her frequent escapes and falls and did not take appropriate preventive measures. The facility failed to move her to a locked facility, which they had available for just such a circumstance, or any other locked Alzheimer’s unit under their ownership. Furthermore, the medical facility was aware that this victim was suffering from Alzheimer’s/dementia, a condition which creates confusion and disorientation, and had impaired cognitive skills. They have recorded this in the medical records. Further, they were aware of her deteriorating mental status and documented in the chart that she had a need for a private duty aide from the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. because of the risk of injury.
An Interdisciplinary Progress Note from the facility stated that if medication could not control the patient so that she interacted more consistently with the staff and residents, her safety could not be guaranteed in their facility. It went on to say that there were locked facilities in the area that might better meet her needs. However, nothing was ever done to follow up on this problem.
In this instance, the facility’s actual knowledge of the victim’s condition from medical records in its possession, as well as pre-existing problems, coupled with the facility’s failure to provide adequate supervision to prevent this incident or transfer the victim to an Alzheimer’s unit, as had been previously recommended by her physician, enabled Mr. Schuler to settle this case with the nursing facility without the necessity of a trial, and finally bring some closure to this grieving family.
