The family of an elderly dementia patient recently settled a medical malpractice and wrongful death suit with UPMC Montefiore for a reported $900,000. The settlement was apparently reached in a mediation session late last May and finalized just recently.

The deceased patient, Rose Lee Diggs, was an 89-year-old dementia patient at the Village at Pennwood Nursing Home, but had been transferred to UPMC shortly before her death in December of 2008. Allegedly, the nursing home had warned the hospital that Diggs tended to wander if given the opportunity.

Despite the warning, Diggs was allowed to wander from her room. On one December night, she wandered from her 12th floor room onto the building's roof wearing just her hospital gown and slippers. The door leading to the roof had a broken lock, which allowed her easy access. Temperatures dipped into the 20's that night and Diggs was later found dead on the roof.

Diggs' son brought the wrongful death and malpractice case in February of 2009. No criminal charges related to the death were filed against anyone at UPMC, but the state did cite the hospital for failing to take action to prevent Diggs' wandering and for failure to fix the broken lock on the door allowing access to the roof.

Under the settlement, UPMC will reportedly pay $500,000. An additional $400,000 will come from the Medicare Care Availability and Reduction of Error Fund, which is a special state fund used to provide compensation in medical negligence or malpractice cases.

In hopes of preventing a similar incident in the future, UPMC has announced an alert system that will be employed to aid in searching for missing patients.

Related Resources:

Family of woman frozen on UPMC roof to receive $900,000 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)