Case Description Banter House Assisted Living is a privately owned/operated assi

Case Description
Banter House Assisted Living is a privately owned/operated assisted living facility in Alvin, TX, The owner; Mrs. D. Shirley purchased the facility 25 years ago and spent most of her nursing career caring establishing a facility that projects all the comforts of home in an assisted living environment. Mrs. Shirley loved caring for the elderly and when she purchased Banter House, she fulfilled her lifelong dream of providing a community that offered assistance to the elderly residents during the latter years of their life. Banter House has also provided Mrs. Shirley and her family with a comfortable income for the past 25 years. Now, Banter House Assisted Living is being sued in a wrongful death case of Mildred Primrose, an 82 year old resident who fell into a ravine when she wandered out of the community early one morning. The staff noticed she was missing at breakfast, began the search while notifying the Director-Mrs. Shirley who also called the local police. Mrs. Primrose, an 82 year old Caucasian woman from Santa Fe, TX, had lived in her own home for more than 50 years. Her children lived about two hours away from her and they tried to visit once or twice a month. After a fall, she had a hip repair and the family moved her into Banter House, as the primary care provider felt she was no longer safe to live alone. Once in the assisted living apartment, Mrs. Primrose received assistance with her medications which included: Armour Thyroid 15mg q day, Lasix 20mg q day, Tylenol 325mg 2 tabs q six hours PRN, and Milk of Magnesia 30cc’s PO Prn constipation. Mrs. Primrose also received reminders for activities and meals, and staff provided assistance with bathing. A few months after she moved in Mrs. Primrose began wandering at night; staff redirected Mrs. Primrose to her apartment and back to bed. Lunesta 2mg q HS was added to help her sleep and the service plan (care plan) was updated to include night-time checks by staff every two hours. Mrs. Primrose slept some but kept wandering in the early morning and began going into other residents’ apartments, unable to find her own apartment without some assistance. Technicians had worked the previous two days on installation of a new alarm system at Banter House to include all windows in the building in addition to alarms that were already on the entrance doors. The day of the above mentioned incident, there was a problem with the alarm system….and, Mrs. Primrose wandered out of the community sometime in the early morning hours.
What are your feelings related to the wrongful death suit filed against Mrs. Shirley regarding the unfortunate elopement and death of the resident, Mrs. Primrose?
What are the healthcare challenges with regard to our aging culture and “defensive practice” in order to combat a litigious society?