Did Itasca Nursing Home Contribute to Negligence in Patient's Death?
Clearly, when Sarah Wentworth triggered an alarm by walking out the door of Arbor of Itasca into the frigid night and no-one responded, there was negligence. We know that the nurse's assistant on duty has been found criminally guilty, but does all the guilt lie on her? No-one else faced criminal charges but that doesn't mean no-one else was negligent. Indeed, a civil suit for wrongful death has been placed against the nursing home.
The sequence of events that night in February raises many questions, a number of which involve the nursing home. The assistant, Heidi Leon, was 23 and accounts suggest she was alone, watching TV, when the alarm sounded. That seems to have been a lot of responsibility for a young nursing assistant. Was she alone and, if so, why? Where was a nurse she was assigned to, or someone else with experience? Did she think the alarm was caused by a co-worker stepping outside that door to smoke, as some often did? Didn't Arbor have rules about those kinds of thing? If it didn't, why not? If it did, why weren't they followed?
Evidence in the criminal case shows the nursing home knew that Sarah might wander. She was fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet for that reason. Why wasn't that bracelet being monitored? And why did no one check on her?
Sarah was outside for about five hours before her body was found. She undoubtedly suffered as she froze to death, particularly after she had fallen and been unable to get up. Evidence showed she crawled about 15 feet toward the door. Perhaps she realized she would die. One of her daughters, Catherine Wentworth Shain, said her mother was confronted by her worst fear: being alone and cold.
And when Sarah was found, some reports said, Ms. Leon and co-workers brought her body inside and attempted to make it look as if she hadn't left her bed. At that point, the nurse's assistant was not alone.
As DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett is quoted as saying, "If you're hired in a professional capacity and you're given duties and you're trained, you're expected to carry out those duties." This can as easily be asked about the nursing home as about the nurse's assistant. Was something wrong with the assistant's training?
Then there are questions about the home, itself. Had it corrected any of 22 violations that were reportedly uncovered during the last annual inspection by the state? Had it corrected the much-below-average conditions that led federal overseers to give Arbor a one-star rating out of a possible five?
How was the home laid out? Where was the nursing station? Where was the TV? Above all, how could Sarah have walked down the hall to the door without being seen?
Catherine Shain told the judge at Ms. Leon's sentencing that "we entrusted our mother to the Arbor staff, but she was left alone to die alone in the cold. Her will to survive was overcome by the bitter cold, and she suffered a lonely and painful death."
The evidence suggests that Arbor, itself, fits the elements of negligence we must prove in a personal injury case:
• That it had a duty to look out for Sarah.
• That it fell short of the standard expected in that type of situation.
• That its failure to meet the standard caused her death.
• That Sarah's death damaged her and her family.
This last point falls under the Illinois Survival Statute. It permits Sarah's family to bring a suit Sarah could have brought had she lived. It also recognizes the suffering and pain she had, and this could lead to a substantial damage award.
And while the suit can't return the mother to her children, perhaps it will send a signal to nursing homes in general, and encourage Arbor to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Michael Kosner, President
The Kosner Firm Chtd.
