Canyon Creek just one of many residential facilities experiencing violence among dementia patients.
Memory care facilities, designed to provide specialized care for individuals with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, are supposed to be sources of safety for individuals whose cognitive impairments make it impossible to live independently. However, these environments can sometimes be anything but that. Some have even become breeding grounds for resident violence, as was tragically seen in the case of Dan Shively and Jeffrey Dowd at Canyon Creek Memory Care Community in Billings, Montana.
Dan Shively, a former bank president who loved fly-fishing and building parade floats, and Jeffrey Dowd, an auto mechanic turned dog rescuer and blues radio host, both found themselves at Canyon Creek as their dementia symptoms became unmanageable at home. Shively’s family had been struggling to cope with his increasing confusion and unpredictable outbursts, while Dowd had been admitted to the facility after being hospitalized for agitation and suicidal thoughts.
Just four days after Shively moved into Canyon Creek, in one such incident of resident violence, holding a knife and fork, he approached a dining table where Dowd was sitting. Dowd, feeling threatened, told Shively to keep the knife away from his coffee. In response, Shively began to walk away. But Dowd’s shoved Shively with such force that Shively fell, fracturing his skull and suffering a brain hemorrhage. He died five days later. Dowd, who remained at Canyon Creek for three more years, becoming more hostile as his dementia advanced, was never charged.
Shively’s family filed a lawsuit against Canyon Creek. Montana law forbids these types of facilities from admitting or retaining residents who pose a danger to themselves or others. Shively’s family argued that Canyon Creek had violated this law, and that the center’s intake assessment had even noted Dowd had a history of verbal and physical aggression. Canyon Creek’s defense team countered that violence among dementia patients is unpredictable, and staff could not have reasonably foreseen Shively’s death.
This issue extends far beyond Canyon Creek, too. A study published in JAMA Network Open found that 15% of residents in New York assisted living homes experienced some form of aggression from other residents in a month’s time. Another study reported that nearly 8% of assisted living residents engaged in physical aggression or abuse toward others.
Experts agree that more needs to be done to address this problem. Karl Pillemer, a gerontologist at Cornell University, has called for the creation of “violence-free zones” in long-term care facilities, for instance, which could help to protect vulnerable residents from the dangers posed by others with whom they must share their space.
The jury in Shively’s case ultimately found Canyon Creek negligent and awarded the family $310,000. For Shively’s family, the verdict provided some closure, though they remain concerned that, unless significant changes occur, these incidents will continue to happen.
The case of Dan Shively and Jeffrey Dowd, and ongoing resident violence at care facilities, in general, underscores the need for better staff training, more comprehensive assessments of residents, both at intake and periodically while they’re at these centers, and a greater commitment to preventing safety issues. Only by addressing these issues can memory care facilities actually live up to their promise of providing safe and supportive care for dementia patients.
Sources:
Violent residents strike fear at dementia care homes
Estimated Prevalence of Resident-to-Resident Aggression in Assisted Living
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