November 2009

A resident of a Des Moines (USA) assisted living center may have been dead for six days before employees found her body. Police reports indicate that she died sometime after Oct. 26, when she was last seen by the center’s registered nurse. The staff checked on her after another resident reported that some of her clothes had been sitting in the laundry room for at least five days.

Dave Werning of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals said the agency is investigating. “In theory, if you are in assisted living then you might think or believe that someone is at least monitoring your activities. So this is probably one element of what we will be looking at.” State inspectors had fined the facility $500 earlier this year for failing to assess residents’ needs properly and failing to conduct background checks on workers.

Des Moines Register item.