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Elderly
Physical Abuse Results from Nursing Home Neglect
Personal Injury
Case Study
In this example of elderly physical abuse, a
mentally incapacitated man assaults his wife due to lack of adequate
supervision by the nursing home where he resides. We discuss relevant
legal issues including liability,
injuries, negotiations, and the final settlement.
The Incident...
Arthur and Evelyn had been married for 50 years and lived independently
their entire marriage. In the last 6 months however, Arthur
had begun to exhibit signs of Alzheimer’s disease and Evelyn was unable
to adequately care for him on her own. He also started to show violent
tendencies toward Evelyn which could have proven to be
dangerous.
Their only child, Lucia researched various nursing homes and found one
that was characterized as independent living. In that setting,
Arthur would receive hands on, daily care with constant supervision in
the residential portion of the facility. Evelyn would receive
minimal care in a studio apartment type setting because she was still
ambulatory, lucid and capable of caring for herself.
This also allowed the couple to continue to reside close (though not
together) as they had for over 50 years. For the first three
months everything went according to plan, however in the fourth month
the nursing home was sold to new owners who changed the entire staff.
Thereafter, the facility
went down-hill, records were lost, the cleaning crew was cut and the
current staff began working long hours.
Lucia was unaware of the care her parents were now receiving because
she had accepted a job offer on the other side of the country (and was not available to visit them often).
In the fifth month, Arthur was left unsupervised with Evelyn even
though the chart specifically warned that he was prone to violent
outbursts. On the evening in question, Arthur violently attacked Evelyn
during one of his episodes. He snapped out of it and wandered
back to his room.
Evelyn was not discovered for two days because the facility was not
performing regular bed checks. By that time, she was weak and
immobile on the floor of her room with a broken hip and a concussion.
It was unclear what Arthur had done and she was unable or unwilling to
say.
Liability...
The owner of a nursing home is required to employ staff who will make
regular inspections, follow the directives of patient charts,
administer medication according to doctors' orders, regularly perform bed checks and, in general, protect the safety
and welfare of their clients.
In this case, the new owners all but ignored the charts and cut their
staff, which probably led to the failure to properly supervise their
clients.
Injuries...
Evelyn
experienced a broken hip and a concussion. It was
unclear however, whether Arthur caused any of these injuries through his
elderly physical abuse or whether they were the result of her frail
condition. She was either unable or unwilling to comment on how she
injured herself.
Once found, Evelyn was immediately transported to the hospital. She
was placed in urgent care and prepped for surgery to repair her hip,
which required a full hip replacement.
Negotiations...
In the
jurisdiction where the injury occurred, the standard of contributory
negligence applied. Because it was never clear
whether Arthur caused her injury or whether it was the result of a
normally occurring incident, the insurance company for the nursing home
assessed liability at 50/50.
Lucia hired an
attorney to argue that the failure to adequately supervise
Arthur is what, in fact, caused the the elderly physical abuse of
Evelyn. This convinced the insurance company to assess fault at 60% to
the nursing home and 40% to Arthur. Evelyn’s surgery and follow-up care
cost $40,000 and the attorney requested a settlement of $160,000. The
insurance company countered at $100,000.
Final
Settlement...
The final
settlement was $130,000, however the insurance company only had to pay
60% of that or $78,000. Naturally, neither Lucia nor
Evelyn intended on pursuing the balance against Arthur since, if he was
at fault in any way, it was not a conscious decision but rather the
result of a mental condition that had developed over time.
Important
Points...
- When placing loved ones in a nursing home, it
is always a good idea to make periodic inspections. Because Lucia lived
so far away, it was impossible for her to know if the quality of care
was declining in any way.
- If a jurisdiction looks at contributory negligence,
they may apportion fault to more than one party.
- Failure to adequately supervise an individual
can give rise to liability if you are responsible for their
supervision. In this case, the nursing home staff failed to supervise
Arthur at a time when he could have harmed himself or others.
Return
from Elderly Physical Abuse to
Elderly Abuse
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from Elderly Physical Abuse to Personal
Injury Settlements
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