Elderly individuals often need assistance to avoid hazards that would be obvious to a younger person. Any sort of elderly care facility must treat the safety of their patients as their highest priority. The failure to provide adequate accident avoidance care can lead to tragic consequences, as demonstrated by an accident that recently occurred at a Beaumont senior living community.
The incident
The accident happened at about 8:30 a.m. on September 10 at a senior living community in Beaumont. The victim, an 87-year-old male, came into contact with a downed power line and apparently died instantly. The Beaumont police investigating the accident were apparently looking for signs of criminal activity, but they ultimately concluded that the incident was “a tragic accident.”
Media reports of the accident did not contain any information about why the power lines were disconnected or lying on the ground. Also, no information was provided about whether any senior home employees were close to the victim before the accident.
Legal liability
In some cases, family members of nursing home residents can recover wrongful death damages after their loved one dies in an accident at a nursing home. As noted above, senior care institutions owe a high duty of care to ensure their patients’ safety. This does not mean that they can be held legally responsible for any accidental death of one of their residents, but if the family members can show that their loved one’s death was the result of the nursing home’s negligence, they may have a case. The legal issues in these cases can be complex, and the facts can be very different from one case to the next. An experienced attorney can help families understand how the law would regard the exact circumstances of their case.