The family's lawsuit claimed the facility violated state regulations by failing to secure the doors to the roof area with a buzzer or bell to alert staff immediately if the door to the roof area was opened.

   A woman jumped to her death from the roof of a residential facility for the elderly. The family sued for wrongful death.

   Regulations also require adequate assessment of each resident?s mental status for indications of suicidal intent.

   A residential care facility for the elderly is not automatically held responsible whenever self-inflicted harm comes to a resident. Such a facility does not have to guarantee the health and well-being of its residents.

   Instead, a residential care facility has specific legal duties toward residents which are spelled out in state laws and regulations.

   If a resident suffers harm, self-inflicted or otherwise, which state laws and regulations were specifically designed to prevent, the facility can be held liable in a civil suit for damages. CALIFORNIA COURT OF APPEAL, 1996.

   The family of an elderly woman filed suit for wrongful death after she apparently committed suicide by jumping from the roof of the residential care facility where she had lived. The lower court ruled in favor of the facility and threw out the suit. However, the Court of Appeal of California reversed the lower court and ruled that the case was valid and should go to trial for assessment of the amount of monetary damages to be awarded to the family.

   The Court of Appeal was asked to wrestle with the issue whether there is a constitutional right to commit suicide, and, if so, whether that would render this lawsuit moot. The court declined to tackle this issue. It ruled that when a person comes under the care of a facility governed by state nursing home laws and regulations, the person and the person?s family are entitled to assume that the facility will abide by the specific provisions of those laws and regulations, including the duty to take specific steps outlined in the laws and regulations to prevent harm to the resident, self-inflicted or otherwise.

   In addition to specific regulations for safety features which must be incorporated in to the design and construction of residential care facilities, such facilities also have specific legal duties with respect to assessment of residents? mental status.

   When assessment of a resident?s mental status would indicate a need for concern over the possibility for self-inflicted harm, there is a legal duty of reasonable care to try to prevent such harm. Persons may come to reside in residential care facilities due to a lack of full mental capacity for independent living.

According to the court, this possibility creates a special relationship between residential care facilities and their residents which imposes a duty on such facilities to take appropriate steps to attempt to prevent voluntary acts of self-destruction.

Klein vs. BIA Hotel Corporation, 49 Cal. Rptr. 2d 60 (Cal. App., 1996).

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