Unmet Needs: Woman's dehydration death leads to questions, lawsuit

STEPHEN HOLMAN / Tulsa World
Candace Stone is pictured at the grave of her mother, Carolyn Sue Stone, at Rose Hill Burial Park in Oklahoma City last month. Stone’s mother suffered from malnutrition and dehydration and later died after living at Alterra Clare Bridge assisted living center in Oklahoma City. Stone and her brother have filed a lawsuit.




By ZIVA BRANSTETTER World Projects Editor
7/9/2007
Last Modified: 7/9/2007 9:57 AM





When Billy and Candace Stone were looking for a place to care for their mother, Carolyn Stone, the Alterra Clare Bridge in Oklahoma City looked like the perfect fit. It had an open, airy feel, friendly staff and a place for Carolyn Stone to do her own laundry, which she enjoyed.

Carolyn Stone, an interior decorator whose most important goal was to be a good mother, learned in 2001 that she had ALS, formerly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Her children cared for her at home until it was clear that she needed greater care.

"We would have gone to the ends of the Earth to make sure she was OK," Candace Stone said.

Carolyn Stone moved into the assisted living center near 122nd Street in July 2004. Billy Stone said the center increased its monthly charge in October to about $2,800 because his mother could no longer feed herself and needed help from the center's staff.

The younger Stones visited often, feeding their mother to make sure she got enough to eat.

Although the center's staff claimed that they fed Carolyn Stone three meals a day, records show that her weight fell from 143 pounds in August to 115 by April.

The center's records from January state "no increase or decrease in weight" at a time that she had lost 18 pounds, a Health Department inspection shows.

"To our knowledge she was being fed," Candace Stone said.

"When we were there we fed her. Her weight -- looking at that makes me so sad. It certainly was not brought to our attention."

Executives of Brookdale Senior Living, the company that operates Oklahoma's 27 Alterra centers, declined an interview request but instead issued this statement:

"As a company, Brookdale seeks to comply with all applicable state regulations. . . . In the event that a deficiency is cited, we work quickly and responsibly to address it.

"We understand that our residents and their families have choices. We are proud of the quality of services we provide and know it is the dedication of our caring associates that earns our customers' trust every day."

Candace Stone said the center did have some happy times. When a resident with dementia ran through the dining room undressed, an employee told Candace Stone: "Your mother almost fell out of her wheelchair, she laughed so hard."

On Carolyn Stone's birthday, April 5, 2005, Candace Stone did her mother's hair and makeup and helped her choose a special outfit.

"She didn't go to the mailbox without being fully done," she recalled. "She was so happy that day."

Within two weeks, Carolyn Stone was hospitalized with malnutrition and dehydration.

Candace Stone said she learned that a feeding tube would have been an option had it not been for the dehydration. After their mother's fifth day in the hospital, the Stones brought her home.

"We fixed up her bedroom and put her pictures back on the wall the way they were," Candace Stone said. "She passed away Thursday morning, April 21."

Records show that the Health Department cited Alterra Clare Bridge Oklahoma City with failure to monitor and assess the needs of a resident. The center did not conduct preadmission screening to determine whether it could care for Carolyn Stone.

It also failed to assess her within 14 days of admission, as required, the complaint investigation states.

The report shows that employees interviewed by Health Department inspectors stated: "The resident's eating abilities had deteriorated to the point that they were unable to calculate what the resident's intake was due to choking, drooling, spitting, all stated that more ended up on the resident's bib than inside."

The staff members told inspectors that they had informed the center's health care coordinator about Carolyn Stone's eating problems two to three weeks before she was hospitalized for dehydration and malnutrition, the report states.

"The staff also stated that no action was taken by the facility to intervene for the resident at that time."

Billy Stone said he wished the center would have acknowledged that it couldn't care for his mother. He and his sister have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Alterra Healthcare Corp. in Oklahoma County District Court.

He said, "You trust these people and pay a lot of money for these people to secure your loved ones. . . .

"In hindsight they weren't capable of handling her level of care, and we have questions about why we weren't notified and why this wasn't more of an option for us."


By ZIVA BRANSTETTER World Projects Editor

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/artic..._A1_hWhen67651