It is a tragic accident: a demented woman fell out of a balcony window at night and died. The granddaughter wants to know how this could have happened.
Wolfratshausen - In the last weeks of her life, her grandmother was doing well again. The demented woman had been living in a nursing home for several months. “We wanted her to be safe,” says Kirstin Schindele, the granddaughter. At the end of March, her grandmother went to the winter garden of the facility on the third floor at night. The next morning, passers-by found the 81-year-old's body on the sidewalk. The demented, blind woman died when she fell from a third-story window. “There is no evidence of any foul play,” says the press spokesman for the Upper Bavaria South Police Headquarters, Alexander Huber. The criminal police have taken over the investigation - as always with a non-natural cause of death.
“There’s a lot we don’t know”: 81-year-old falls to her death in seniors’ park
There are many unanswered questions for the family of the deceased. The most pressing one: How could such an accident happen in a supposedly safe nursing home? “There’s a lot we don’t know,” says Schindele. Was the window already open? When did the night watch come past the winter garden? Why hasn’t anyone seen the senior citizen? When Schindele talks about the tragic death of her grandmother, you can hear how little understanding she has of how the defenestration could have happened.
“You don’t like to put your grandma in a facility,” she says. “But you do it because you want her to be safe.” Before moving to the senior living park, the 81-year-old had fallen several times in her apartment and injured herself. “We wanted her to go somewhere where she could be looked after.” Schindele didn’t want to be under any illusions: “I didn’t expect someone to hold grandma’s hands 24 hours a day.” But that a dementia patient would in the middle of the night fall out of a balcony window alone in a common room: “That simply shouldn’t happen,” says the granddaughter – just like her family.
ASB comments on the tragic death: Residents must not be locked up
At the request of our newspaper, the operating company commented. The management of “ASB Casa-Vital GmbH” emphasizes in a written response: “We deeply regret the death of our resident and have expressed our deepest condolences to the relatives.” The residential park on Moosbauerweg is an open nursing home, as the management emphasizes. “We are a facility that you can leave at any time – just like your own house or apartment.” The residents are “of course also allowed to go out on the balconies or open the windows”. Forbidding this or locking the bedrooms at night “would curtail their personal rights” – and is prohibited for precisely this reason.
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The nursing staff pay attention to whether this type of living is actually suitable for the seniors: “If we realize that a resident would be better off in a closed facility, we get everyone involved on board: the relatives, the family doctor, the neurologist and also the district court “in order to find the best possible solution and alternative accommodation for the resident,” emphasizes the company. We “do not accept” people with a known tendency to endanger themselves. That is an exclusion criterion.
Security for seniors: “Checks are carried out at night”
The safety of seniors will be ensured as far as possible. “Checks are carried out regularly at night.” There is a night guard on each floor. She checks on things three times a night. “There is therefore no absolute guarantee that every resident will be in their room at all times.” Tragic cases such as the fatal fall in March cannot be completely ruled out. “There can never be 100 percent security.” Measures such as video surveillance are “not legally permitted and are not wanted by us,” writes the management.
Operator offers psychological help for employees
The facility took action after the fatal fall. “We called a team meeting and offered our employees psychological support. The incident takes a toll on all of them. Together we’ll think about what we can do to make everyone feel even safer – residents and employees alike.”
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