Choking & Suffocation
Choking and suffocation are leading causes of death in nursing homes. If your family member has died while in a nursing home or assisted living residence due to choking or suffocation, it may be due to negligence on the part of the nursing home or assisted living residence.
Much like children, many elderly persons who suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's' need assistance with eating so they do not put too much food in their mouth at once, or eat too fast. Other deaths can be caused by strangulation from restraints or bed rails. Many nursing homes fail to assist or monitor patients, and the tragic result is a high number of deaths due to choking and suffocation.
Clogged breathing tubes
Most cases of death due to choking or suffocation in nursing homes can be traced to poorly qualified, untrained, and overworked personnel. One of my cases involved a resident of a Warwick, Rhode Island, nursing home who needed to breathe through a tracheal tube. He suffocated to death over the course of several hours when a registered nurse working at the nursing home on a temporary assignment refused to suction secretions from his tracheal tube. The resident suffocated to death. The nursing home tried to cover up the resident’s death by having the medical director of the nursing home report on the death certificate that the resident’s death was from a stroke and not related to an accident.
A Preventable Occurrence
Most choking deaths occur because the staff fails to follow the care plans of residents who are at risk for choking. I represented that family of a woman who was supposed to be on a diet of soft foods. When the nursing staff fed her hard food instead, it became lodged in her throat and she choked to death.
Nursing Home Liability
A nursing home or assisted living residence may be found liable for failing to prevent choking and suffocation deaths.