Woman's overdose death at Brooklyn Park assisted living facility was preventable, lawsuit alleges
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — The mother of a woman who overdosed twice and died in a Brooklyn Park assisted living facility has filed a lawsuit alleging medical negligence.
The 21-year-old woman, who battled severe mental illness and drug abuse, died at Empathy Home Care in November of 2021. She left behind a 3-year-old daughter.
The lawsuit says the facility allowed the woman to overdose on fentanyl twice in five days, and also accuses Hennepin County of failing to monitor and ensure compliance with the woman's treatment plan. A Minnesota Department of Health investigation found gaps in Empathy's care and cited the facility for violating state law and standard practices in its care. Her death, the investigation found, was ultimately preventable, the lawsuit says.
According to the lawsuit, the woman was admitted in July of 2021. In November, a staff member called Brooklyn Park police because the woman had locked herself in the bathroom and refused to come out. She was found with an oxycodone pill in her hand, and an officer administered Narcan.
A nurse, who was also the administrator of the home, revised the woman's care plan to have staff check on her every two hours, though the lawsuit says the updated services plan was never executed. She left the facility two days after her overdose, and staff did not ask her who she was with or where she went, the lawsuit says. After her first overdose, the nurse said there were "no changes" in her assessment.
The nurse reported the woman's overdose to her case worker, and the case worker said, erroneously, that it was her first overdose on narcotics, even though her own records said the woman had an overdose months before. No social worker contacted the woman to make sure she was complying with her individual support plan, the lawsuit says.
Early in the hours of Nov. 20, 2021 staff saw the woman grab a snack and go back to bed. A staff member knocked on her door at 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. that same morning, though she did not respond. The lawsuit alleges that no other staff checked on Spencer until 2 p.m., when a staff member forced her door open.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, with her cause of death listed as acute Fentanyl toxicity.
A Minnesota Department of Health investigation opened in April of 2022, and found Empanthy Home Care responsible for negligence and maltreatment in the woman's care.
The lawsuit seeks $50,000 each from the facility and the nurse, as well as Hennepin County and the woman's case worker for one count of medical negligence and ordinary negligence, respectively.
WCCO reached out to Empathy Home Care and Hennepin County, and both said they did not have any comment.
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If you or someone you know is in emotional distress, help is available from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI. Call the NAMI Helpline at 800-950-6264 or text "HelpLine" to 62640. There are more than 600 local NAMI organizations and affiliates across the country, many of which offer free support and education programs.
