A Midwestern heat-wave is likely to blame for the death of a 69-year-old man at a Wisconsin nursing home. Though no official cause of death has been established, prolonged heat exposure appears to be primary cause of the man’s death.

WISN.com is reporting that emergency personnel were called to Sunrise Care Center, after the man was discovered by staff sitting unresponsive in his wheelchair.

Apparently, the physically disabled man had been brought outside by staff at the facility earlier in the day and remained outside in the 97-degree heat for more than three hours.

Two hours after the man was discovered, his body temperature was 101.4!

To me, cases such as this are a disturbing reminder of just how poor the care at many nursing homes truly is. The fact that a nursing home worker brought a patient outside and left him unattended in such extreme heat is absolutely inexcusible.

While investigators look further into the circumstnaces surrounding this incidnet, I hope prosecutors consider charging the individual(s) responsible for supervising this man are held fully responsible. I can only imagine if this situation were to occur with a young child, the caregiver would already be in custody in jail?

For laws related to Wisconsin nursing homes, look here.

sadbuttrue says:

June 15, 2011 at 7:10 pm

Your comments are right on! That said, staffing levels at assisted living in particular, and nursing homes, need to changed. It’s minimal at best. State regulators call those shots so pressure needs to be put on them. Assisted living especially needs a better staff to patient ratio – it’s almost criminal what they get away with. The large chains know this and yet don’t want to spend money putting more staff on to deal with these situations. They could go ahead and increase staffing if they wished; the state would mandate it which is the only way I see this actually happening.