Nursing home found patient dead 3 days later. Is this unacceptable?

Question

While we understand some living facilities function differently because there are unassisted residents who reside on the grounds and seemingly live a regular lifestyle. Should they still require consistent checks to ensure they are doing ok and are not needing anything?
I think this story is saddening because had it been 12hrs or more then I would get it but 3 days is too much for me to say “well it happens”

Accepted Answer

My in-laws grandmother is in independent living and they only make contact twice a week - when they take the folk out for trips to the grocery shops and the weeks they mow their lawn. Apart from that they don't check on them every day. So it depends how the facility runs. If they require extra help them call or press a destress button.

Answer

I’m confused. An independent home isn’t a nursing home. The residents either have a private caregiver or they don’t need assistance.

Answer

To be honest I think this is more of the family's responsibility. And it is tragic when an older person doesn't have family to check in on them every day, but people move into independent living because they still want a degree of autonomy and don't want to be bothered by healthcare staff every day. 
My grandmother passed away in an independent living apartment and it was discovered within a matter of hours of her death because my mom called and checked on her every day and asked the staff to check on her when she didn't hear from her one day. 
She also made a lot of friends there, which is why she wanted to live in independent living versus in her own home, for the social aspect. So another resident probably would have noticed eventually if my mom didn't. But I can imagine covid has increased isolation and residents dont see their neighbors and friends as much now.

Answer

It's not really acceptable but I can see how it happens, depends on the rules of the place. At my grandmother's retirement home they have a flipbook that was propped up against their windows with the days of the week and numbers from 1-31and every morning, the residents have to change those flipbooks to the accurate date and day, plus now for COVID the residents are having supper delivered to their rooms. So that's at least twice a day that they are checked on (and that's how they found my grandmother about an hour after she died - her door was unlocked when they came to deliver supper). She wasn't in high care or anything, she was living independently but they realise that they are still old people who may die regardless. 
BUT
When I was working for the plastic surgeon we had a lot of people come from overseas to do their surgeries and they'd stay at a medical recovery bed and breakfast. Our surgeries took place on a Thursday, patients were discharged on a Friday morning and sometimes they wanted to go to the shops for snacks or whatever afterwards. So the lady running the BnB took one of our patients and said she bought a ton of snacks, went to her room and put up the Do Not Disturb sign.
She didn't come out for supper which isn't unusual, some people aren't hungry after surgery. She didn't come out Saturday either and the lady running the BnB concedes that she should have been suspicious then, but still she had a lot of snacks, was two days post op, etc.
However Sunday morning they decided do to in and check on her and found her deceased in the bed, the coroner said she probably died the Friday already based on the state of her. 
It's not really the exact same thing but it shows that depending on the checks of the place, it may or may not happen. 
So I think in environments where they are supposed to be check on daily, then no this shouldn't have happened. If it's an environment where there is some sort of freedom/lack of daily monitoring then yes it could happen.

Answer

My grandfather lived in a progressive care facility with everything from independent homes to nursing and finally hospice care options. He had a full kitchen in the independent portions and still drove, so picked up his own groceries. The only staff he saw on any regular basis were cleaning ladies weekly, and later, there was an in home care person who came every other day to help bathe his wife. 
It would be unfortunate, of course, had he expired in this section and we hadn’t known for a few days, but that is to be expected when someone is living independently, no matter where it is they are living that way. I don’t see any issue with the situation, and wouldn’t really agree with having to “check in” daily. If they were in a higher level like assisted living, this situation would be fully unacceptable.

Answer

I’d like to add, the title of this post is misleading. A nursing home and an independent living facility are two different things. There are zero comparisons to the two with minor exceptions.

Answer

I think this all depends on wether or not the facility was following protocol. When this woman decided to live there did she know how often she would be checked on? Maybe she liked the idea of independence with occasional check ins. If the facility is supposed to be checking on residents everyday then they were negligent.

Answer

Depends on rules, regulations and agency policy. Ethically and morally, I think they depends on resident wishes. 
Many independent living are intended so residents are essentially in an apartment with assistance IF they want it. That’s the point. Many in independent living DO NOT want nursing home care or surveillance (people poking their heads in all hours of the day). 
So, yeah, it can be acceptable. People die. If they weren’t following policy, sure, unacceptable per policy. If the person wanted a check-in or was normally out and about, then odd they wouldn’t but staffing is abysmally low. 
A good book is “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande MD. 
Idk, I have found many dead bodies in all states of death…it’s not not something I’m bothered by morally, unless I’m at a skilled nursing facility and told “I just saw them and they were fine” and they were very dead and obviously so for several hours. 😐 
Even in the best of care, people are found dead after long times. Many people are found through welfare checks mummified, many have no one other than “the system” checking on them.

Answer

I think the point of an independent living facility is that you’re not completely on your own, right? Otherwise why even go to one? At a minimum someone should be aware of how you’re doing on a day to day basis. 3 seems neglectful to me.

Answer

No, because she died alone and she was probably terrified. No one deserves to die like that. Poor woman. A phone call just to check in isn’t imposing and takes 2 seconds. 3 days is far too long for someone to stay undiscovered.

Nursing home found patient dead 3 days later. Is this unacceptable?

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