South Carolina Nursing Home Blog : South Carolina Nursing Home Lawyer & Attorney : Poliakoff & Associates Law Firm : Elderly Care, Senior Care

CBS2Chicago had a tragic story of a nursing home resident found on train tracks near the facility.  There is no excuse for this kind of neglect and lack of supervision.  The nursing home has been sued for negligence after a resident with dementia was discovered lying on train tracks and suffering from cold exposure eight hours after wandering off during a group field trip. McCauley suffered from various psychological and physical conditions, severe dementia and Alzheimer's disease and required full-time supervision by staff.

Wayne Marz, the guardian of Margaret McCauley, filed the suit in Cook County Circuit Court against Sunrise Senior Living Services, the Brighton Gardens Assisted Living of Orland Park and the home's Activity Director Debra Ann Adler, following the Dec. 2, 2007 incident that left the woman with significant injuries.

McCauley wandered away unnoticed and was found approximately eight hours later just one mile away, lying on train tracks with visible injuries she had suffered from falling down and from being exposed to cold temperatures for an extended amount of time.

The suit alleges Adler and the nursing home failed to properly monitor McCauley; failed to assess her risk of wandering off; failed to provide an adequate number of staff for residents and failed to ensure her safety.  The center also failed to take proper steps to ensure McCauley's safe return after discovering she was missing.

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 Fox8.com out of Cleveland had a recent story about a nursing home resident who was left unattended and allowed to leave the facility unsupervised.  The resident ended up walking on the road and getting hit by a car.  She died from injuries sustained in the  "hit and run" accident.  What is amazing about this story is how the article concentrates blame on the driver of the vehicle instead of the nursing home which was responsible for keeping this resident safe and out of harm's way.  The nursing home should have been watching her and not allow her to leave the premises unsupervised.

Citing declining health, her family recently convinced her to check into the nursing home.   She was very unhappy there and wanted to return home.  This is a clear sign of a risk for wandering.  Her family says she was supposed to be staying in a "locked-down area" when she somehow was allowed to escape.

"There was a security door in her room that she was able to disable at 87 years old. They appear to be very short staffed at night. We were told there was a loud alarm going off but no one went looking to see what was going on," says Meldrum.

According to the Avon Police Department, several 911 calls came in Friday evening alerting them of a car versus pedestrian crash in front of the Good Samaritan Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation Center on Detroit Road. When officers arrived to the scene, they found Warren lying on the side of the road.  Police say the suspect vehicle did not stop after the accident and drove away from the scene.

Is there any investigation as to why and how she was able to leave the nursing home without being noticed?  how long was she missing?  Why didn't anyone hear the alarm or respond to it? Was the nursing home short-staffed?

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The Chicago Tribune has had a series of articles about the tragic death of a nursing home resident who was unsupervised and allowed to wander away from the facility.  The articles are good although many questions remain unanswered.  See articles here, here, here, and here.  Below is a summary of what I believe has been found out thus far.

Sarah Wentworth -- who suffered from dementia -- was found in a snowbank outside The Arbor of Itasca the cold morning of Feb. 5.  She had been exposed to the elements for at least 90 minutes and more likely 5 hours. Wentworth was unable to leave her bed without assistance.   No one is sure how she could have left her room and the building without being noticed by staff.  Staff are required to do a bed check every two hours.  She was known by staff to be a wanderer and wore an ankle bracelet that reminded the staff.

Wentworth was wearing only a hospital gown when police arrived at the nursing home.  She had on an ankle bracelet that should have (and may have) triggered an alarm at the facility's nursing station when she passed through the first of two exit doors.   Inside the nursing station at The Arbor of Itasca is a handwritten note reminding staff that "if this buzzer sounds, staff must go out to the courtyard to check for a resident."

Nursing home staff members told Itasca police they checked the door to the courtyard when the alarm went off, but did not see anyone.   No mention of a polygraph test was noted.

Neglect and obstruction of justice charges may be filed against as many as four employees. Heidi Leon, a 23-year-old staff member on duty the night of the incident, was watching TV in a room adjacent to the nursing station when Wentworth exited a door and triggered the alarm.  She watched three straight episodes of "Dog The Bounty Hunter" and "shrugged off " an alarm that indicated a resident had wandered outside into near-zero conditions.  Instead of checking the courtyard as instructed, the staff member assumed someone "stepped outside to have a cigarette" and turned the alarm off "so it didn't distract her television program."

Tom Hendrix, an attorney for the nursing home, did not respond directly to the allegations but said that "policies and procedures were in place for the supervision and safety of residents, including an alarm system which was in working order." Hendrix did admit that some employees had been suspended.

Mr. Hendrix nor the nursing home employees can explain how she got outside.   She was unable to get out of bed on her own.  Although an alarm sounded at a secure door during the middle of the night when Wentworth left the building, no nursing home employee checked on her.   The outside temperature that morning was about 1 degree.

Heidi Leon was charged Tuesday with criminal neglect of a long-term-care facility resident, criminal neglect of an elderly person and obstruction of justice. If convicted, she faces up to 7 years in prison.

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The Tampa Tribune had an article about a resident missing from a nursing home.  How can the facility allow a vulnerable elderly person to wander way from the facility?  Who is supervising the residents? Why didn't the door alarm go off?  Or did the staff fail to respond to the alarm?  Were they short-staffed?

A search is under way for Carl Seiden who disappeared from The Fountains, his assisted living facility in North Tampa.  Seiden suffers from dementia.  The sheriff's office describe him as 6 feet tall with a thin build and beard. He walks with a cane and was last seen wearing brown pants and a beige shirt, the sheriff's office said.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the sheriff's office at (813) 247-0929.
 

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Fort Worth Star Telegram had an article about a nursing home facility that allowed a resident to wander away from the facility unsupervised.  The resident is a 67-year-old woman with an aggressive form of Alzheimer’s disease who walked away from a Fort Worth nursing home.

The woman was last seen about 5 a.m. at the Tanglewood Oaks nursing home.  Police described the woman, Linda Kay Eichelberger, as white, 5-feet 3-inches tall, weighing about 135 pounds, with blond hair. Police think she may have tried to walk to her home near TCU.

Anyone with information about Eichelberger can contact Fort Worth police at 817-335-4222.

I am not sure how this happens when the facility knows that the woman suffers from dementia. Why weren't they keeping an eye on her?  How long was she missing before they even noticed?  Did they have a wanderguard on her? Were the doors locked to the facility?  Did they have enough staff to watch her?

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The Charleston Gazette out of West Virginia had an article about the tragic and clearly preventable death of a nursing home resident who wandered away from the facility unsupervised and was struck by a train on nearby tracks.  Why didn't the facility notice he was missing?  Why weren't they able to prevent him from wandering away from the facility? What was their staffing level on that day?  Did they have a wanderguard on him?

In a lawsuit filed in Kanawha Circuit Court, George W. King Sr.'s children, Sharon Milam and George W. King Jr., allege that Heartland of Charleston, a subsidiary of Health Care and Retirement Corp. of America, LLC, failed to properly monitor the 73-year-old former owner of Pineview Cemetery in Orgas.  "George King Sr. could not care for himself or be allowed to walk outside the facility and the staff of the facility at Heartland of Charleston was aware of this fact," the suit reads.

Workers at the facility failed to follow the company's established protocols for missing residents and failed to adequately supervise King.  "The staff of Heartland of Charleston failed to keep him secure in the facility, failed to immediately discover that he had left the facility, searched for him in the wrong area (because they confused him with a different person who had left the facility on a prior date), failed to use the exterior security cameras to identify the direction in which he left the facility and failed to utilize all available resources to locate him quickly [such as a search dog team]," the suit states.

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WBBM, News Radio 780, out of Chicago had a tragic story about a senior citizen who was missing from a nursing home weeks ago.  He was discovered dead just 20 feet from the scene of his disappearance. Arthur Vaughn, 72, was found face down with his nose and mouth submerged in a wooded marsh area behind Robbins Supportive Living.  An autopsy determined Vaughn drowned.

The article did not mention how the resident was able to leave the facility?  Was their a Wanderguard in place?  How long was he missing when the facility finally noticed?  Why weren't they able to find him since he was only 20 feet away from the facility?

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The body of a nursing home resident was found dead,  The man had been missing from a Caroline County nursing home since Aug. 3.  The date and cause of death are still under investigation and how he exited the nursing home where he was supposed to be supervised. Additional information about where the body was found, and by whom, was not available from the sheriff's office last night.

Richard Eddie Robertson was found Friday morning.  Cenk Kalemdaroglu, an administrator at Bowling Green Healthcare Center released a statement:  "We are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic outcome of the exhaustive search to find Mr. Robertson, Our sincere condolences go out to his family and loved ones. We would like to thank all of the individuals and volunteers that have assisted in this search effort."

Robertson suffered from dementia and was known to wander.  Wandering is a major problem in demented residents and why staffing and supervision are so important.  The nursing home should have had a Wanderguard on or even a simple GPS unit.  They are cheap and would not bother the residents.

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