In a settlement one-week prior to trial, a nursing home agreed to pay $350,000 to the family of the plaintiff’s decedent-a former resident who wondered away from the nursing home, and sustained injuries that resulted in a decline in his health and subsequent death.
The suit was the result of a nursing home incident involving a 73-year-old man with dementia who also suffered from insomnia, but was able to exit the facility from the facility’s second floor dementia unit. The resident along with the other residents on the second floor dementia unit were not given access to the code to the keypad that unlocked the door. However, the resident entered the numbers1,2,3,4onto the keypad, and since that was the correct code, the door unlocked allowing the resident to leave. He simply got on the elevator, went to the first floor, walked through the lobby, past the reception desk and went through the front doors. No one stopped him, or questioned him.
After the nursing home elopement, the resident wandered about a quarter of a mile away, but fell on the highway and broke his hip. He was discovered by emergency personnel in an ambulance headed for the nursing home on another, unrelated call. The resident was rushed to the hospital due to the injury from the fall and hypothermia due to it being November and the weather was cold. The resident was later returned to the nursing home, but experienced declining health until his death two months later.
The attorney for the plaintiff argued that the nursing home should have changed the security code on a weekly basis, that there were insufficient staff to monitor and supervise the dementia unit, and that the temporary staff the nursing home was using were not qualified and familiar with the residents. The attorney argued that the resident had previously tried to leave the facility and the nursing home was aware of his attempts to leave.
The plaintiff’s attorney was prepared to call witnesses to support their case including a geriatric physician, an expert nursing home administrator to educate about dementia and the importance of having appropriate security procedures in place, e.g., regular code changes on door locks and a wander guard system to prevent elopement.
The nursing home denied any negligence in its security procedures, but soon after the incident, a protective cover was placed over the key pad and the code was changed. The nursing home contended that the resident’s death was not caused by his elopement and that it was not related to his fractured hip. They suggested that it was due to sepsis an infectious disease. They further asserted that they were compliant with all of the necessary standards of care.
