This unfortunate old man diտd of hypothermia at the entrance to a nursing home.
According to a Colorado lawsuit, Mary Jo Staub left her assisted-living facility and was lost for more than five hours before a staff member could locate her.
A complaint filed by the lady’s family accuses the assisted-living facility’s employees of carelessness after a 97-year-old woman died from frostbite outside after straying outside in the middle of the night in subfreezing weather.
Mary Jo Staub, 97, was allegedly spotted roaming aimlessly outside the Balfour at Lavender Farms assisted-living home in Louisville, Colorado, according to documents acquired by the Washington Post. When she got locked out, she was only wearing her pajamas, robe, boots, and gloves.
According to the footage, she hurt her ankle while using her walker to navigate the snow. She left a bloody trail behind her as she knelt down in front of the nurse’s station and slammed on the doors in an attempt to be let inside.
She eventually passed out from the cold an hour later after failing to convince anyone to unlock the doors.
According to the lawsuit, it took a staff member more than five hours to locate her outside, and an autopsy determined that she had died of hypothermia.
According to the lawsuit, according to CBS News, «no one at Lavender Farms was watching the security cameras that night; not a single Balfour employee realized Staub was locked out of the site; not a single Balfour employee was present to help Mary Jo in any way.»
Inquiries for comment from PEOPLE were not immediately answered by a Lavender Farms representative.
According to the Washington Post, the family’s claims in the complaint include felonious murdering, negligence leading to wrongful death, and intentional infliction of mental distress. They also say that Balfour employees lied to criminal investigators in order to «avoid criminal charges.»
According to the Staub family’s lawyer, Elizabeth Hart, «assisted living institutions are expected to provide protective oversight for our elderly loved ones.» The Staub family wants to make sure that no other member of this vulnerable population experiences what they did.
According to the lawsuit as reported in the Washington Post, Staub had been having confusion, despair, and memory loss and was assessed to need careful monitoring by personnel, but her records at the institution had not been updated. The institution allegedly promised the family that Staub would be monitored every four hours between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time.
According to CBS News, the facility was examined by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment following the event and a number of violations were discovered. According to the news outlet, eight citations were issued by the government body and afterwards removed.
Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment spokeswoman Elaine McManis said in a statement: «As soon as we were informed, we dispatched professionals to the facility to look into what happened and make sure that other residents were safe. Where we uncovered flaws, we demanded that the facility work rapidly to fix them, and we closely watched the facility until it had finished all necessary remedial activities.»
