Woman Freezes to Death at Illinois Nursing Home; Family Searches for Answers - UPDATE
We discussed the tragedy of Sara Wentworth's death at an Illinois nursing home in previous blogs. Ms. Wentworth died on February 5, 2009, after wandering outside wearing only her nightclothes in one degree weather.
Heidi Leon, 23, was charged on March 3, 2009 with criminal neglect of a long-term care facility resident, criminal neglect of an elderly person, and obstruction of justice. If she is convicted, she faces up to seven years in prison.
Leon, an employee of The Arbor of Itaska since March 2008, was on duty the night Ms. Wentworth died. Leon is accused of watching television rather than performing her job duties. Allegedly, Leon watched three straight episodes, or 90 minutes, of Dog the Bounty Hunter and "shrugged off" an alarm that indicated an 89 year old woman with Alzheimer's disease had wandered outside. Ms. Wentworth was found, lifeless and frozen, on the ground in the facility's courtyard. She had been outside as many as five hours.
Nursing home protocol called for Leon to perform checks every two hours and Leon is accused of lying about a 3:00 a.m. check she allegedly made on Wentworth. When the alarm sounded at the door in the middle of the night, no nursing home employee checked to ensure Ms. Wentworth was in her bed.
Several other employees allegedly helped change Ms. Wentworth's clothes and cover up the tragedy, but they are not currently being charged.
