A Fellow Nursing Home Resident May Injure Your Loved One. That Doesn’t Mean the Facility’s Not Responsible.

Studies have shown nursing home residents are often injured by fellow residents. Although the physical contact isn’t by a facility employee, the facility may still be liable to pay compensation. The nursing home is responsible for your loved one’s health and safety. Management may be negligent in admitting the person, they failed to properly supervise them, or they didn’t remove them after evidence the person was a threat to others.

One Montana case illustrating this problem was recently reported by KFF Health News. It involves Dan Shively, a former bank president who created floats for Cody, Wyoming’s July Fourth parades and loved to fly-fish with his sons.  Jeffrey Dowd worked as an auto mechanic, ran a dog rescue operation, and hosted a blues show Sundays on a local radio station.

Two Lives Collide in Memory Care and One Survives

After their dementia diagnoses the two lived at the Canyon Creek Memory Care Community in Billings. When Dowd was admitted management warned employees in a note that he could be “physically/verbally abusive when frustrated.”

It was Shively’s fourth day at Canyon Creek in 2018 when he walked to a dining room table carrying a knife and fork. Dowd sat at the table and told Shively to keep the knife away from his coffee. Shively turned away, but Dowd, twice his weight and ten inches taller, stood up and shoved Shively. He hit the floor and fractured his skull, causing his brain to hemorrhage. Shively was 73 when he died five days later.

Dowd, 66, at the time, wasn’t criminally charged, but Shively’s family members sued Canyon Creek in a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming their negligence in handling Dowd caused Shively’s death.

Despite Killing Fellow Resident, Dowd Remains in Facility

Dowd stayed at the facility for nearly three years. During this time, according to facility records filed in the case, Dowd repeatedly clashed with other residents, sometimes striking male residents and groping females. After Shively’s murder, Dowd did the following:

• Engaged in repeated verbal threats (including death threats) and physical confrontations.
• Pushed two residents. One fell and his head bounced off the floor
• Struck two residents in the head, causing one to bleed

His anger was known to quickly flare.  One nurse wrote in a statement describing an altercation with another resident, “I’m literally scared to death of Jeff. I’m scared to approach him and talk to him when he gets into these very common fits of rage.”

The facility denied responsibility for Shively’s death, but a jury found in his family’s favor in 2022 and awarded them $310,000 in damages.

Memory Care Unit Residents are Often Victimized

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Violence between residents in long-term care facilities and nursing homes is common. One recent study found 15% of assisted living residents responding to a survey stated they experienced physical, sexual, or verbal aggression in the past month.

Residents with dementia are more likely to be violent because the disease damages parts of the brain involved with language, memory, reasoning, and social behavior. Clashes may be spontaneous and unpredictable.

They may lash out because they lack social inhibitions or they have no other way to express discomfort, fear, pain, anxiety, or disagreement. They may be constantly disoriented.

Eilon Caspi, a University of Connecticut researcher, looked at 105 fatal incidents involving dementia residents. She found 44% involved fatal falls where one resident pushed another.

The risks of violent conflicts increase when facilities admit and retain residents they’re unable to manage safely. They have insufficient staff who don’t receive any training, or it’s insufficient to prevent these conflicts. Management may not properly assess incoming residents or keep them despite their threats to others.

Canyon Creek Not Licensed to House Dangerous Residents, But Does So Anyway

Dowd had lived in another nursing home and had a long history of dementia, behavioral issues, and a major depressive disorder with psychotic features. Records stated his dementia was caused by excessive, long-term alcohol use.

Montana licenses Canyon Creek as a Level C assisted living facility. They are permitted to house those with cognitive impairments so serious they’re unable to state their needs or make basic care decisions.

Montana law states Level C facilities cannot admit or retain residents who are a danger to themselves or others. Dowd’s intake assessment form states he was “physically and/or verbally abusive/aggressive 1x per month.” Canyon Creek defended itself by stating all memory care residents are unpredictable and Dowd hadn’t previously physically confronted other residents.

Many assisted living centers are driven by finances. If a resident is dangerous but they have empty beds and aren’t making enough money, they may be more reluctant to remove them. If they’re full, they’re more likely to kick them out of the facility because they’re not worth the problems they cause.

Many facilities are poorly equipped to handle aggressive residents. Conflicts can be fueled by more than one resident living in a room, small common areas, and limited ability to go outside. Short staffing makes these problems worse.

Unfortunately, many people dealing with dementia aren’t just dealing with their own problems, they cause problems for others – sometimes severe or fatal injuries. If a facility doesn’t recognize the problem or address it, they fail their duty to keep residents safe and open themselves up to liability.

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