$1 million awarded to SC family whose elderly mom died after fall at senior facility

A South Carolina state circuit judge has awarded $1 million to the estate of a 79-year-old woman who died after being left alone on her floor for three days after a fall that broke her hip at her independent living apartment, despite a policy by the facility that it made daily wellness checks on residents.

The $1 million in connection with the death of Delila Parrott is to be paid by Sandpiper Independent Living, a Mt. Pleasant senior facility, according to the judge’s order in the case.

Key evidence in the case included a written policy that Sandpiper would do a “wellness check” on each resident at the senior complex once a day, as well as substantial testimony that Parrott’s life after the undetected fall turned into a nightmare of downward spiraling physical and mental ailments until she died eight months later.

Jay Davis, a Charleston lawyer for Sandpiper Village Independent Living, declined comment but said his client is filing a motion to ask the judge in the case, Judge Bentley Price, to reconsider his ruling.

“Once a final ruling is issued, we will explore all available options at that time,” Davis wrote in an email. Davis also stressed that the independent living area where Parrott lived is a “predominantly senior community where residents have freedom of decision, privacy and choice. Despite the allegations in this matter, Sandpiper Village Independent Living does not provide oversight, healthcare or assistive services other than as provided pursuant to the terms of its lease with tenants.”

Price heard the case without a jury — a proceeding both sides agreed on — and issued a written ruling late last week. Over three days of testimony in the September trial, Price heard from approximately 10 witnesses.

Before the fall, Parrott — a retired nurse anesthetist with a successful 35-year career — was a vibrant woman in excellent health with a zest for life and a loving family, according to evidence in the case. Actuary tables gave her life expectancy of 10 more years, according to evidence. (Actuary tables show the estimated life expectancy of a person. In trials, the estate of a healthy person with a long life expectancy would ordinarily get consideration for larger monetary damages than the estate a person with, say, a terminal illness and a life expectancy of six months.)

“By all accounts, she lived a normal life as an active and healthy senior,” wrote Judge Price.

On June 3, 2014, as Parrott hung a curtain in her Sandpiper apartment, she fell and broke her hip. She could not move. She couldn’t reach her phone, according to evidence.

The judge’s order described what happened over the next 68 hours. “No one on Sandpiper’s staff checked on Ms. Parrott at any time the next day on June 4th. No one checked on her on June 5th. No one checked on her until approximately 8 p.m. on June 6th, when she was found by a staffer and another resident,” Judge Price wrote.

Transported to a hospital, she was found to have a broken hip, to be dehydrated and soaked in urine and have numerous untreated infections that resulted from the fall, the judge found. Evidence showed that the longer Parrott lay on the floor, the worse her injuries became, and she suffered emotional distress from the fear of dying alone, the judge wrote.

“Ms. Parrott never returned to her prior good health and she was never able to live independently again,” the judge wrote. She went to a rehabilitation facility. There, she suffered mentally, started to decline, entered hospice on Jan. 31, 2015, and died nine days later, the judge wrote.

During the trial, Sandpiper lawyers Davis and Matthew Riddle, both of Charleston, put up a defense that denied that Parrott was on the ground for three days and alleged that she had been seen the day previous to her discovery by a staff member. They also argued that the extended time Parrott lay on the floor with a broken hip did not lead to her exacerbated mental health conditions or her untimely death, the judge’s order said.

The judge found there was no doubt about the wellness check policy. “The policy was in writing and was known to all staff and all residents,” the judge wrote. “Testimony establishes that Sandpiper did not follow the Policy.”

In fact, in pre-trial statements, Sandpiper had denied the existence of such a daily check policy, but four days before the trial, Sandpiper confirmed the policy, the judge’s order said.

Because of that policy, Sandpiper “had a duty to exercise reasonable care in utilizing the system/protocols it put in place for checking on the well-being of every resident at least once every 24 hours.” the judge wrote. Moreover, the existence of that 24-hour check-in policy was a major reason Parrott chose Sandpiper, the judge wrote.

“The evidence is overwhelming that Ms. Parrott experienced enormous conscious pain and suffering, and mental distress during the long lie that resulted from Sandpiper’s failure to conduct timely wellness checks on June 4th and on June 5th,” the judge wrote.

Sandpiper lawyer Davis said in his email that Sandpiper Village Independent Living “does not provide oversight, healthcare or assistive services other than as provided pursuant to the terms of its lease with tenants. Residents .... are free to come and go, have privacy, and to live as anyone would live in their private home or apartment.”

Paul Reeves, lawyer for the Parrott family, said, “The one thing that showed through in this trial is that Mrs. Parrott needlessly suffered and died because Sandpiper failed to do what it promised to do. Judge Price’s decision, finding $1 million in damages, fairly measured the value of the harm caused to Mrs. Parrott and her family.”

Independent living facilities, unlike nursing homes or assisted living homes, are not regulated or licensed by the S.C. Department of Environmental Control.

This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 12:36 PM.