Victim family's lawyers tour Itasca nursing home
As the lawyers toured the Itasca nursing home, a handwritten note hanging in the nurses' station caught their attention.
The note reminded employees of The Arbor of Itasca to always check the outside courtyard if a door security alarm sounds.
Lawyers for the family of an 89-year-old woman who died Feb. 5 after wandering outside in subfreezing temperatures said Sarah Wentworth still would be alive had staff heeded that rule. The Arbor has suspended those employees involved in Wentworth's care that tragic morning as the private facility, police, prosecutors, state health officials and the woman's family conduct investigations into what happened and how the workers responded.
Four female employees are being investigated for possible criminal charges alleging obstruction of justice or criminal neglect. Prosecutors may file charges next week.
Authorities said a 23-year-old certified nurse's assistant turned off the alarm, which is next to the posted handwritten note, and went back to watching television without checking beyond a cursory glance down the hallway. They said staff panicked after finding Wentworth outside, at least one hour later, then conspired to make it look like she died naturally in her bed.
The former Chicago woman's three daughters filed a wrongful-death lawsuit that allowed their lawyers Friday to conduct the court-ordered inspection of The Arbor. Afterward, the attorneys spoke with the media hoard waiting outside the facility at 535 S. Elm St.
Attorney Louis Cairo said the group shot photos, a 22-minute video and took measurements to document the line of sight from the south nurses' station to Wentworth's nearby bedroom and the stairway and door she exited to go outside in the courtyard.
The video and photos later were made public.
Cairo said Wentworth's electronic ankle bracelet triggered an alarm, which sounds if any of the four doors are opened. Three of the doors lead to the courtyard. To check, the worker would have had to walk down a 52-foot hallway, turn, and continue another 30 or so feet to look outside into the courtyard.
"Obviously that never happened because, if it had, they would have seen Sarah and we would not be here today," Cairo said. "When you have reason to believe there is a potential for a resident to be in an unsafe situation, you investigate. You don't continue watching television."
Wentworth, who suffered from dementia, had been at the nursing home for 2.5 years.
Cairo said the facility was clean, staff friendly and residents appeared happy. The woman's daughters were expected to attend Friday but instead were asked to come later for fear too large of a group would disturb the elderly residents. Instead, the women will visit where their mother died at noon March 2.