2025Ms. Shields, age 79 suffered from advanced dementia but was able to do most of her activities of daily living without assistance. She was admitted to Waterview Health, a nursing home in Hampton for a 5-day respite stay. She was known to wander the halls and had tried unsuccessfully to escape. On the 5th day of her stay, Ms. Shields can be seen on a surveillance video sitting in a chair at the nurses station after an unsuccessful attempt to escape. She was supposed to be closely monitored by the nursing staff. However, she can be seen standing up and walking down the hallway to her left and then she comes back and walks by the camera and nursing staff who were not paying attention to her. She then walked down a long hallway and through an unlocked door through which she had tried to escape earlier. She descended two flights of stairs and walked about a quarter of a mile into the surrounding neighborhood and fell face forward onto a sidewalk, fracturing her nasal bones and suffering 8 rib fractures on her right side. Waterview Health admitted negligence in failing to prevent the elopement and agreed only to pay her emergency room bill. Ms. Shields died less than 3 months later, and Waterview Health denied that her injuries caused her untimely death. Ms. Shields’ adult children who cared for her in their homes provided gripping before and after testimony about her decline and her pain and suffering. Defense experts testified that she was not in pain and did not die as a result of her injuries. The defense’s bifurcation motion failed, and the jury was presented with alternative claims of either survivorship damages or wrongful death. The jury returned its verdict on the survivorship claim for Ms. Shields injuries and pain and suffering.