Nursing Home Neglect Led to 92-Year-Old Woman’s Wrongful Death, Claims Lawsuit
The daughter of a 92-year-old woman who died after falling at an assisted living facility has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging nursing home negligence. Helen T. Van Dale was staying at Wingate’s Silver Lake Rehabilitation & Skilled Nursing Residence in Kingston when she fell from her wheelchair in 2007. She died the following day.
Dale had only been residing at the nursing home for five weeks when the fall accident happened. Her daughter, Dottie Hammond, claims that the nursing home also failed to properly diagnose her mother’s urinary tract infection, which caused her mother to become disoriented, fall, and hit her head. According to her death certificate, Dale’s cause of death was blunt head trauma.
Hammond says that at first, the assisted living facility seemed like a well-run, well-maintained place, and she was happy to have her mother stay at the nursing home. Now, however, she has her regrets, and notes that positive evaluations from the state and in-person visits are not always accurate gauges of the kind of care a patient might receive once he/she is admitted to the nursing home.
Urinary Tract Infections
Millions of people suffer from UTI’s, which is considered the second most common kind of bodily infection. Women are especially at high risk of suffering from a UTI.
Common causes of urinary tract infections:
• Bacteria
• Tubes or catheters inserted into the bladder or urethra
• Diabetes
• Diaphragms
• Having sex with partners that use spermicidal foams with their condoms
• Pregnancy
Left untreated, UTI’s can lead to health complications—especially for older adults and young children, who are more at risk of kidney damage. It is a nursing home’s responsibility to decrease the chances that patients will sustain any infections and if they do that treatment is administered immediately.
Woman sues after mom’s death, Boston Herald, March 7, 2010
Urinary tract infection, MayoClinic
Related Web Resources:
Urinary Tract Infections in Adults, National Kidney and Urological Disease Information Clearinghouse
Falls in Nursing Homes, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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