Local Law Firms Home > Nursing Home Abuse News > Lawsuit for Leaving 89-yr Old in Outside Heat Loretta Hooker, 89, was admitted to the Sunrise Sterling Canyon Assisted Living of Valencia in July 2007, suffering from weakness, fragility and dementia. She died from a heatstroke and cardiac arrest in August 2011 after being left outside in the heat on the patio under the hot sun at temperatures above 100 degrees. Loretta Hooker's son, Ronald Corn, has now filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court accusing the assisted living facility of wrongful death. After being admitted to the facility, Loretta's physical condition actually improved. By April 2010, she had been transferred to the facility's Reminiscence Program section designed for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. Ronald Corn was in the habit of making bi-weekly visits to see his mother. When he arrived on August 17, 2011, she was sitting alone on the patio where there was no shade and without any supervision. Corn asked for a meeting with the facility director to resolve this matter, and a meeting was set for Aug 24. When Corn arrived for this meeting, he found his mother again left alone out in the sun on the patio. This time, she was in obvious respiratory distress, drenched in perspiration and unresponsive. Her body temperature had boiled up to 103.3 degrees and she was rushed to a nearby hospital in the middle of a cardiac arrest. Loretta Hooker later died in the hospital of a heatstroke. The autopsy report clearly states that she died of "environmental heat exposure." Both the LA County Sheriff's Dept and the California Social Services Dept. conducted their own investigations. The Sheriff’s deptartment believed negligence had occurred, but did not find sufficient evidence to charge the facility for a crime. CA Social Services cited the facility for checking up on Hooker within 10 minutes after she was left on the patio. Ronald Corn's lawsuit alleges the Sunrise Sterling Canyon facility of negligence, elder abuse, wrongful death and causing emotional distress. He is seeking medical expenses, plus unspecified damages and legal expenses. Did you know? |