Ottawa Police are investigating the death of an elderly woman who may have fallen from the window of a long term care home. The woman was found with several injuries near a wall April 17th at the Carlingview Manor at 2330 Carling Avenue.
Paramedics, who tended tothe woman, say her injuries were consistent with a fall from a significant height. It is still not clear how it happened.
This incident comes on the heels of a class action lawsuit involving another long term care home in Ottawa.
Ottawa Paramedics were called to Carlingview Manor on April 17th around 9 a.m. What they knew from the call was that a woman in her 80's had been found outside the Carlingview Manor. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.
“We often get calls to nursing homes,” explains Marc Antoine Deschamps with Ottawa Paramedic Services, “usually falls from standing or falling out of bed. However, a fall similar to this outside and from a great height is highly unusual.”
Revera, which owns the long term care home, confirmed in a statement that a resident had "passed away unexpectedly...out of respect for the resident's privacy and that of the family,' the statement read, "we cannot discuss any details publicly."
The Criminal Investigations Unit of the Ottawa Police has taken over the investigation.
“The investigation came in as a sudden death investigation,” says Constable Alain Boucher with Ottawa Police, “so the investigators are looking at all the evidence we have at the time.
The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care is investigating the incident but no one is really saying a lot of what happened; how an elderly woman apparently plummeted to her death.
The Ministry says in a statement that "it initiated an immediate inspection upon being notified of the incident by the home” and that the inspection is ongoing at this time.
This story comes on the heels of a $300 million dollar class action lawsuit filed against both Extendicare and Leisureworld, now Sienna Senior Living, for inadequate care. An Ottawa woman, 91-year-old Lioubov Ijnatieva is the main plaintiff in the Extendicare case. She had been living at the West End Villa in Ottawa on Elmira Drive, but passed away in January. The statement of claim alleges her wound had not been properly cared for and “had been left to suffer from continuing issues with falls.”
“We need to start talking about fines, shutting down some of the homes,” explained Toronto lawyer Amani Oakley at a news conference Thursday in Toronto, “halting admissions until some of these issues dealt with.”
None of the allegations in the court filings has been proven in court.
In a statement, Extendicare said it doesn't believe the lawsuit has merit and indicated it plans to demonstrate that through the court process.
“Extendicare has very comprehensive programs which ensure that residents of its homes are appropriately cared for and conducts regular internal audits, external audits, and program evaluations to continuously improve, and our performance is shared publicly,” Extendicare said in a statement.
