82-year-old spent 2 days on floor at care facility, later suffered chemical burns, lawsuit says
An 82-year-old woman’s family has sued the care facility where she lives in Tacoma, alleging that she spent two days on the floor after a fall and another time suffered chemical burns from drain cleaner in her sink.
Christean Dupee moved to the ManorCare facility in February 2018. She fell later that month, the lawsuit says.
“I do think that she was down for an extended period of time,” the family’s attorney, Colleen Durkin Peterson, told The News Tribune recently.
It was about a year later that Dupee, who has been diagnosed with dementia, got chemical burns at the facility at 5601 S. Orchard St. A maintenance worker had used drain cleaner in her sink.
“We knew that she liked to have things tidy,” Durkin Peterson said about Dupee. “... She probably went to clear her plate, put her hands in there, touched her lips or the side of her face with her hands.”
ManorCare said in a statement that it would not comment about “potential lawsuits or the specific care given to individual patients,” due to privacy laws.
“The emotional and physical well-being of our residents is our primary concern,” the statement said. “We take pride in our long-standing history of delivering quality care to the residents of this community. We actively work with state regulators to ensure that our residents are receiving the care ordered by their physicians and do our best to provide information and support to families during what can be emotionally stressful situations.”
The lawsuit, filed Feb. 26 in Pierce County Superior Court, gives this account:
Dupee was taken to St. Joseph Medical Center by ambulance in 2018 “with swelling to the right side of her forehead, stating she had fallen two days prior at ManorCare and hit her head on a sink.”
She told a paramedic who found her on the side of the bed: “I fell on Friday after using the restroom and hit my head on the sink, and no one came in to check on me, so I moved over to the floor by my bed and then someone came in and helped me up.”
A hospital note said: “She states she fell two days ago and hit her head but did not lose consciousness. EMS states on Friday (2 days ago) the staff checked on her and she grabbed her pillow and laid on the floor but didn’t know she had fallen until today when they noticed her forehead.”
She was treated and returned to the ManorCare facility.
“Given Ms. Dupee’s medical history, upon review of ManorCare records, greater fall precautions should have been put in place for her safety,” the lawsuit says.
Then in October 2019 a ManorCare employee allegedly left drain cleaner in Dupee’s sink for two days, during which time Dupee suffered chemical burns to her right hand and lip.
“... Ms. Dupee’s sons, who were visiting their mother at ManorCare, found her with raw, burn injuries to her right hand ... ,” the lawsuit says. “There is no indication in the record that any ManorCare staff discovered Ms. Dupee’s wounds, similar to her head hematoma, prior to family visiting.”
An ambulance took her to the hospital, where she was treated. Dupee’s son told a doctor he was worried she had fallen.
She was discharged and returned to ManorCare.
“Over the course of the next 12 days, staff at ManorCare failed to properly care for Ms. Dupee’s chemical burn wounds, did not change her wound dressings in accordance with (the doctor’s) instructions, and persisted in a pattern of conduct or inaction that failed to provide the medical services/treatment Ms. Dupee required for healing of her chemical burns,” according to the lawsuit.
Instead, her sons took her back to the hospital for further treatment.
The lawsuit also alleges that records of a state investigation in November showed Dupee was only showered twice within a 30 day period and had not gotten recent podiatry services. There also wasn’t evidence staff had properly administered and monitored her nutritional supplements, according to the suit.
Durkin Peterson said Dupee’s family is working to move her to a different facility.
“I think that this was a preventable event that was made worse by not following up with care that needed to be provided to her,” Durkin Peterson said. “... We need to be aware of what’s going on in these homes. You can’t just warehouse people. And it seems like sometimes that’s what happens to some of the more vulnerable in our society.”
