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Neglect in
Elderly Assisted
Living Facility
A Personal Injury
Case Study
This case of neglect in an elderly assisted living facility illustrates
some important
legal issues in these types of personal injury cases. We'll review the
incident,
negligence, liability,
injuries,
negotiations,
and the final case resolution.
The Incident...
Sara and her brother Sam had to make the difficult decision to put
their mother Sue in an assisted living facility. She had been living on
her own for the previous 15 years since the death of their father, but
recently Sue had begun to exhibit
strange behavior common with mini-strokes.
She would do such things as wander out of the house wearing little else
than a sheer nightgown looking for her long lost child. She would leave
the oven open and on, causing potential
hazards and she had started lighting numerous candles around
the house and then falling asleep.
Sara and Sam believed that, without intervention, she
could hurt herself. Sara lived locally but was a mother of
three and a busy attorney. Sam lived out of town. Therefore
neither of them were in a position to provide her with the round the
clock care she need.
Furthermore, Sara felt that her mother might pose a serious threat to
the safety and welfare of her children due to some of her behavior, so
residing with her was not an option.
They visited Happy House elderly assisted living facility where they found the
staff to be loving and kind. They explained their mother’s
condition and that the sole purpose for bringing her there was because
she needed round-the-clock supervision. They were told that
the assisted living regulations required staff to provide 24
hour care, 7 days a week and that their mother would not be left unattended.
To their shock and dismay, one week into her stay, Sue was not checked
on during the evening shift. The evening employees would
congregate downstairs to play cards and watch television when they were
not under the watchful eye of their supervisor who had no idea that
they were doing this.
During this time, Sue was able to sneak out of her room where she wandered out to the interstate in
her pajamas. She fell on the side of the freeway, tumbled down a steep
ravine and was badly injured. She laid there for 5 hours
before she was noticed by a couple walking their dog in the early
morning hours.
Liability...
In this case, the
employees were grossly negligent for failing to watch Sue
or notice that she was gone. Remember, it was not that they noticed and
there was a search party, it was a random couple that found
her. This implies that the employees never even did a bed
check to confirm the well-being of the patients.
The elderly
assisted living facility is also liable for failure to
supervise and properly train their employees.
Injuries...
Sue was dehydrated and in shock when she was found. Due to the extreme
temperatures in her state, she
had suffered mild hypothermia as well as a broken hip and wrist, and
numerous abrasions to her body as a result of tumbling
down the ravine.
Though it was all covered by her insurance policy, without considering
the collateral source, her medical bills
totaled $45,000, not to mention the discomfort and fear she experienced
all night.
Negotiations...
Sara and Sam wasted no time finding a local attorney who was a
colleague of Sara’s. Due to their friendship, he agreed to represent
her mother for 20% which is far less than the normal contingency fee of
33.3% charged.
He demanded
$250,000 and would not budge from this figure, arguing
that the elderly assisted living facility knew that Sue would be in
extreme danger if not supervised, that her children made it clear that
this was the sole reason for placing her in the facility and that their
failure to watch her was the actual and proximate cause of the damages
incurred.
The insurance company could not deny liability but tried to negotiate
the settlement to a more agreeable figure.
Final
Settlement...
The attorney
settled Sue’s claim for $200,000. After his fee
of $40,000 and her medical bills which were reduced to $30,000 were
paid, Sue was left with $130,000 which her children used (with her
permission) to hire an in-home health care specialist to reside with
Sue and make sure that she was not a danger to herself.
Important
Points...
- When your loved one is in a nursing home or
assisted living facility it is a good idea to drop in at random hours
to see how things are run at different times of the day and with
different shifts.
- Attorneys are free to reduce their fees if they
choose below the standard
fee of 33.3% in personal injury cases.
- Ask to see incident reports once you make a
decision on a particular facility.
- Ask the facility whether bed-checks are
performed, particularly if your loved one is in early stages of
dementia or Alzheimer’s and is likely to wander.
Return
from Elderly Assisted Living to
Elderly Abuse
Return
from Elderly Assisted Living to Personal
Injury Settlements
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