Nursing Home Wandering Death Leads To Lawsuit

In February, a Primrose Villa nursing home resident wandered from the facility and fell to her death in a nearby ravine. Now her daughter has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in North Carolina alleging that her mother was not properly medicated the night before her death and that she had a history of leaving the premises unsupervised.

Serita Cheryl Evans, 43, says that her mother, Carrie Christine Evans, 85, suffered from insomnia, mild dementia, bipolar disorder, and hypertension. Yet the night before her North Carolina nursing home death, the Trazodone and Vistarial that was prescribed for her health and safety was not administered to her. In addition, the alarm system that warns staff of wandering nursing home residents was broken at the time of Evans' death and had not been inspected in almost a year.

Her daughter is seeking $10,000 in damages in order to pay for funeral expenses, burial costs, and other expenses.