Dementia sufferer husband killed by 2 weeks in care home
A PENSIONER with dementia died after suffering ‘appalling neglect’ at a care home during a two-week stay while his devoted wife took a holiday break.
Tony Dearnley, 72, was physically fit when he arrived, but on the day his wife Kay returned home from France he was rushed to hospital in a critical condition and died three hours later.
Staff had failed to get medical help as Mr Dearnley’s health deteriorated alarmingly following a series of falls. He was in pain and had ‘virtually stopped eating and drinking’. There were nine members of staff involved in his care, yet no one took responsibility to call a doctor – a basic intervention that a coroner concluded may have saved his life.
Mrs Dearnley, a former manager in a packing company, sued the care home owners for damages because she was so shocked by the mistreatment he received in June 2012.
She died from breast cancer two years later aged 70 without receiving the apology she sought.
Now, almost four years after Mr Dearnley’s death, Prime Life Ltd, which owned Wyton Abbey Residential Home near Hull, East Yorkshire, has admitted responsibility. Family members wanted to continue the legal action on a matter of principle and Prime Life Ltd has agreed to pay £5,000 damages.
Their solicitor Hayley Collinson, of Hudgell Solicitors, said: ‘This was an appalling case of neglect at every level, at a company which cares for hundreds of elderly people across the UK.’
The couple, who had no children, had been happily married for 49 years. Mrs Dearnley acted as his carer when he developed dementia in his final years.
Mrs Dearnley’s sister told the court how the retired joiner had been ‘wrapped in cotton wool’ by his loving wife, but she arranged the holiday because she ‘needed a break’ from her caring duties.
Mr Dearnley had previously stayed at Wyton Abbey for one or two nights at a time and although his wife was ‘worried’ she believed he was in good hands.
Mrs Dearnley even phoned the home during her holiday, but was unaware of his failing health. In a serious case review carried out into Mr Dearnley’s care, it was revealed that he was left with bruises on his arm, hip, forehead and nose from falls at the care home. His behaviour ‘changed significantly’, he barely ate or drank and was rubbing his knees as if in pain.
The report also told how he received a ‘transient’ examination by a district nurse on June 29 – two days before his death – and the next day had ‘deep and shallow breathing and was taking very little food or drink.’ Still no doctor was called. Friends who visited had expressed concern to staff about his condition but were told he was ‘fretting for his wife’.
The home eventually called an ambulance on the day he was due to be collected by his wife, but only after checking with her first, and ambulance staff noted signs he had been ‘neglected.’
The coroner recorded a narrative verdict at his inquest.
The cause of death was given as aspiration pneumonitis, and the coroner ruled there probably would have been a ‘different outcome’ had ‘medical attention been sought earlier.’
Wyton Abbey was closed last year but owners Prime Life Ltd run more than 50 care and residential homes across the UK.
A spokesman for Prime Life Ltd said: ‘We have no comment.’
‘Appalling case of neglect’