North Carolina Nursing Home Lawsuit Filed Over Wandering Death

A Maryland woman has filed a nursing home wrongful death lawsuit against a North Carolina facility that allegedly allowed her 85-year-old mother to wander out at night disoriented, fall into a ravine and die from a head injury.

The North Carolina nursing home lawsuit was filed by Serita Cheryl Evans following the death of her mother, Carrie “Christine” Evans, whose body was found behind the facility on February 2, according to a report by the Angier Daily Record.

The complaint was filed against the owner of Primrose Retirement Villa IV in Angier, North Carolina, alleging that nursing home negligence resulted in the death.

Wandering from a long-term care facility, often referred to as nursing home elopement, can result in serious injuries like fractures from falls, heat stroke or hypothermia in extreme weather conditions. It is generally accepted that preventative measures by a nursing home can eliminate or greatly reduce the risk of serious injuries from nursing home wandering. Facilities can train staff, move high risk patients near the nurses stations, use door alarms and security cameras and lock sections of the nursing home where residents who are prone to wander are housed.

According to the complaint, Carrie Evans was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and hypertension, required medication to stay lucid and had problems sleeping that would increase the risk that she may attempt to wander from the nursing home.

The lawsuit alleges that Primrose staff was aware of her propensity to wander off, but did nothing to stop it. It also charges that there were no staff members on duty that evening to give Evans her medication, and a security system designed to residents from wandering off was broken and had not been inspected since 2005.

Following Evans’ death, the Harnett County Department of Social Services has levied fines against the Primrose facility for multiple safety violations, including a fine for not properly supervising residents in a situation that leads to severe injury, and for not correcting care quality issues that the state has identified within a reasonable amount of time.

The agency’s inspectors also noted a lack of training for non-licensed staff at the facility on several occasions, and the state has felt the need to conduct 28 investigations on Primrose in the last two years, compared to the state standard of four investigations per year.