Substantial damages for death of care home resident with dementia

We were instructed to represent the widow of a care home resident with dementia who entered a room in the home while he was unsupervised. He subsequently became entangled in equipment and died. This tragic incident was avoidable as the room should have been kept locked as a matter of course.

Our investigation into the claim on behalf of his widow included preparation for and attendance at the inquest into the man’s death. As part of that process, we obtained some key information and documentation which evidenced both a lack of adequate supervision of residents and a failure to deal with the known risks of open access to the equipment given the vulnerable patients in the home.

The care home had refused to provide relevant documents until we asked the coroner to order disclosure. Consequently the inquest process assisted our client’s case considerably and we were able to recover a six figure sum on her behalf.