89 Year Old Alzheimer’s Patient Freezes to Death
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The family of an 89 year old nursing home resident suffering from Alzheimer’s has filed a lawsuit against the facility in connection with her death on February 5th. The family of Sarah Wentworth claims that staff members at the Arbor of Itasca nursing home failed to investigate when Wentworth triggered an alarm as she apparently wandered into a courtyard during freezing weather. Wentworth was later found frozen to death at the Itasca, Illinois nursing home.
The door to the courtyard was rigged with an alarm that sounded whenever it was opened, reports the Chigagotribune.com. But the staff on duty the night Sarah Wentworth died apparently paid no attention to the alarm. Wentworth’s family alleges that a 23 year old staff member on the night in question was watching television nearby when the alarm was tripped. But instead of getting up to check if a patient had wandered into the courtyard, the staffer assumed that someone went out for a cigarette, and subsequently turned the alarm off.
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 also said some employees had been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.
This type of tragedy is all too common today. Alarms on doors and windows have long been used at nursing homes as a way of assuring patients’ safety, but often staff will ignore them, as happened to Ms. Wentworth. An alternative is to equip patients with bands with remotes that automatically lock doors whenever a patient gets too close. But then there is the problem of staff or others opening or holding doors open for the patients, thereby defeating the safety system. The issue is one of staff competency, not sufficiency.
It is becoming increasingly difficult to find adequate care for our elderly family and friends. A good start to preventing injuries to the elderly in the nursing home context is to research long-care facilities through Medicare.gov. This website has guidelines on what to look for when deciding on a long-care facility for a loved one. In addition, talk to the staff and patients and try to get a feel for whether your loved one would receive proper care prior to agreeing to anything.