Elderly Woman Dies from Negligent Nursing Assistant
A woman in Kalamazoo, MI still mourns the death of her elderly mother who died in August 2010 at her nursing home. The elderly woman’s tracheostomy tube was somehow caught around a bed rail and became dislodged.
The elderly woman was supposed to have two assistants to help her because of her size, so that way they could ensure that her tracheostomy did not dislodge, but on that day there was only one assistant to help her. As the assistant moved her, the elderly woman tried to warn her that her tube was stuck, the aide still attempted to adjust her as the elderly woman kept warning her she was caught. The aide then called a registered nurse to help her, who described the elderly woman as looking fearful while she kept saying she could not breathe. The tracheostomy tube eventually came completely out and she was later pronounced dead at a local hospital. The nursing assistant claimed that she had cared for the resident by herself on many occasions without help from another worker. While the nursing home claims it has since then made changes to ensure the safety of other residents, this family has to still mourn the wrongful death of their loved one.
The nursing home who committed this offensive act still had the audacity to send the family a check of $100, the amount of the fine the facility had to pay the state for what happened to the elderly woman. Now the daughter is planning to file a wrongful death suit so this type of incident does not occur again.
