State has Limited Authority to Investigate
An independent living facility that also offered assisted living and nursing home care, told the family that they would do a same day wellness check if the father didn’t come to a meal. They didn’t do this. His body was not discovered for one week, even though he hadn’t been to one meal during that period of time, his newspapers were piling up outside his door and another resident asked them to check on him. The family doesn’t know how long he laid there before he died but the condition of his body was horrible. Independent living facilities, even on a continuing care campus, have limited governmental oversight, therefore there was no recourse for the family to assure that the provider corrected their procedures to prevent this from happening in this facility or another provider facility.