Lawsuit: Neglect led to 94-year-old woman's death

The family of a 94-year-old woman who fell at her senior living apartment and wasn’t found by staff until three days later has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Allegro retirement home.

The estate of Karma Gleason, who died last year about a week after her fall, filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Leon Circuit Court against Allegro and several other corporations with ownership and management ties to the complex. Allegro, formerly known as Heritage Oaks, is located on West Shannon Lakes Drive.

Residents wear pendants allowing them to summon help in case of emergency. They also use a call cord located in every apartment restroom to check in each morning. If they don’t pull the cord by 10 a.m., staff is supposed to check on them, the lawsuit says. Residents also could expect a check if they didn’t show up for meals in the main dining room.Gleason moved into Allegro in 2012 in part because of its touted emergency response system, designed to get help to residents quickly in the event of a fall or medical problem. But the lawsuit says the emergency response system failed.

On Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, Gleason fell in her apartment and was unable to get up on her own, according to the lawsuit. She later told a family member she kept pushing the pendant button, “but nobody came.”

That night, and over the next three days, Gleason didn’t show up in the dining room for any meals, “but no staff inquired as to her whereabouts,” the lawsuit says. Newspapers stacked up outside her apartment door.

On Nov. 3, a housekeeper entered her residence and found Gleason “lying on the floor, injured, confused and soiled in her apartment. The housekeeper promptly sought appropriate medical attention, and 911 was called,” the lawsuit says.

Gleason was taken by ambulance to a Tallahassee hospital, where she was found to be severely dehydrated and suffering from acute kidney and liver damage. She died eight days later.

Scott Gwartney, a Tallahassee attorney representing Gleason’s children, said the family took great comfort in their belief that their mother was in a safe place. He said the family felt they had to do something to protect others living at Allegro.

“Between the personal pendant, the check-in every morning and knowing that someone would seek her out if she missed a meal, it’s incomprehensible how a resident could lay on the floor in need of help for days,” he said. “How could so many systems fail? When she needed all that security the most, they failed her in so many different ways.”

Allegro's corporate office declined to comment. Attorneys for Allegro did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Allegro, which offers assisted living and independent living options for residents, markets its facilities as "luxurious" and "service-rich" on its website. It operates senior living homes in nine other Florida cities and one city in Kentucky.

Gleason resided in one of Allegro's independent living apartments, paying nearly $4,000 a month, which included housing, meals, transportation and other services, according to court records.

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration licenses assisted living facilities but not independent living facilities, an agency spokeswoman said. Gwartney said he was unaware of any AHCA investigation into her death.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.