An 85-year-old Connecticut resident died not long after he allegedly became injured, covered in blood and wedged under his bed at a Connecticut assisted living facility.
His family alleges he was trapped under his bed for hours, in a pool of his own blood, screaming for help, after he had fallen out of bed in the middle of the night, court documents show.
Raymond Hessel, of Fairfield, who was on hospice care, died 10 days later, on Nov. 12, 2023, court documents show.
His family has filed a lawsuit against Gary Ferone and multiple limited liability corporations, alleging a staff member at the senior residential assisted living facility at 7 Forest Hill Road, Norwalk, did not assist Hessel and did not call 911 despite his need for assistance. The suit was filed by Carey B. Reilly of Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder PC of Bridgeport.
The suit alleges the staff member was not “trained, educated, or instructed” to do otherwise and the person was stationed at the facility “as the single overnight aide at the senior residence,” and charged “with the responsibility to attend to the care and safety of the facility’s five residents.”
The suit alleges that the facility had assigned “untrained, unqualified, unsupervised, unlicensed, and uncertified aides to situations beyond their abilities to handle.” It also alleges seniors and their family members were “lied to” to get “them to sign contracts requiring them to pay exorbitant sums of money in exchange for what they were told would be 24/7, responsible, skilled, and compassionate caregiving and supervision in small residential facilities.”
“Obviously, there comes a time when everyone must die, but no one deserves to suffer like Ray did in the final ten days of his life,” the lawsuit says.
Repeated attempts to contact Ferone were unsuccessful. The companies named in the suit are Sunshine Sr Residence LLC, Fairfield Family Care, LLC; Fairfield Family Care Holdings, LLC, and 7 Forest Hill Road, LLC. The suit claims Ferone “was an owner, operator, manager, member and/or authorized representative of each company.” Those LLCs have since been dissolved, state records show.
Frank J. Szilagyi, the Hartford attorney who filed a motion on behalf of Ferone, said Tuesday he was acting for an out-of-state firm that will handle the case. He declined to name that firm and said he could not comment on the case.
The suit alleges that “through his creation of a series of Connecticut limited liability companies, Ferone falsely promised seniors residential living in a home-like setting, with around-the-clock caregiving and supervision.”
Hessel, described as “a self-made man who created a successful local packaging business, Hessel Associates, and provided well for his family,” left, at the time of his passing, his wife, daughter, daughter-in-law and five grandchildren, and “family was everything to Ray,” the suit says.
“Ray loved the simple pleasures in life: a weekly shopping trip to Stew Leonard’s on Saturday, pizza nights out with good friends, a walk with (his wife) and their golden retrievers,” the suit says. “More than anything, Ray was a people person; he loved building deep connections with others.”
The suit also notes Hessel had a “colorful, flamboyant style of plaid blazers, printed ties and Bermuda shorts,” and that he “was a kind, gentle soul” who did not “have a mean or jealous bone in his body.”
The suit alleges Hessel’s family paid $8,400 a month in exchange for what the resident and his family believed “would be 24/7 supervision, state-of-the-art fall prevention and alarms with expertly trained staff, licensed and certified aides on the premises day and night to provide continuity of care, daily hygiene, housekeeping, laundry, home-cooked meals, medication administration and companionship.”
In the fall of 2022, Hessel’s health was declining, and he was developing dementia and/or Alzheimer’s disease superimposed over chronic congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but “despite his various conditions, Ray was still living quite contentedly,” the suit says.
In late September 2022, Hessel was referred to Regional Hospice and Home Care of Western Connecticut; he fell a couple of times at home and his wife and another decided it was time to move him someplace safer that offered unparalleled fall prevention and protection, the suit says.
“Ferone touted his 7 Forest Hill Road residence as an alternative to nursing homes and care facilities, providing home care to five senior residents in the comfort of a home in a residential neighborhood, staffed around the clock with ‘our compassionate caregivers,’” the suit claims.
Ferone allegedly “promised residents and their families that an overnight aide would be on duty to perform in-person checks approximately every three hours to ensure the safety of residents,” the suit claims. “Ferone and his staff represented that there was also video surveillance and monitoring throughout each premises, including in the overnight aide’s room to allow him or her to constantly monitor residents remotely throughout the night.”
Hessel moved into the senior assisted living facility at 7 Forest Hill Road based on the belief that the facility and staff “would take excellent care of Ray,” the suit says.
Then, on the night between Nov. 1-2, 2023, with a “single overnight aide on duty” at the 7 Forest Hill Road residence, another “resident heard a loud noise at about 11 p.m., which was later identified to police as likely Ray falling out of bed,” the suit claims.
The suit alleges that the aide on duty “discovered Ray on the floor of his room at about 3:00 a.m.on November 2, 2023” and “did nothing.”
At 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 2, 2023, a person identified in the suit as “an agent, apparent agent, servant, and/or employee of the defendant,” heard screaming coming from Hessel’s room and found him “on the floor of his room bleeding profusely,” the suit claims. She called 911, the suit says.
The suit alleges the responding EMT “found Ray supine, on the floor of his bedroom; he had a laceration on his head with dried blood on his head and on the floor; fresh blood was oozing from the injury site and Ray was crying out in pain and begging for help.”
Asked by the EMT what had happened, the aide allegedly “told him that she found Ray at 3:00 a.m. and did not contact 911 or her supervisor because she thought that Ray was on hospice and that it was not required,” the suit says.
The EMS service filed an elder abuse report regarding the incident at 7 Forest Hill Road with the state of Connecticut and a Norwalk police officer responded to the scene, finding “Ray was still on the floor” and noting “that much of the floor and Ray were covered in blood,” the suit says.
“Another agent, apparent agent, servant, and/or employee of the defendant … described the scene in Ray’s room as a ‘blood bath,’” the suit alleges.
Norwalk Hospital treated Hessel for a right periorbital hematoma with possible underlying fracture of the anterior maxilla, multiple head lacerations and massive bruising, the suit says.
The family only learned of the fall from a third party, the suit says.
The aide was fired on Nov. 2, 2023, after Hessel had been taken to Norwalk Hospital, the suit says.
The suit says Hessel’s family was reluctant to return him the facility, but “paid an additional $300-400 a night to the defendant for an aide to sit by Ray’s bedside all night to keep him safe, secure and in bed until a bed with more protective bedrails was provided.”
“Unbelievably, on the night of Nov. 6-7, 2023, Ray fell out of bed again despite that the defendant promised to provide and Ray’s family was paying for a bedsitter,” a “service that was not being provided,” the suit claims.
“Hospice visited Ray for the last time on November 11, 2023, to treat his growing anxiety and agitation,” and he died “on November 12, 2023, at the defendant’s senior assisted living facility at 7 Forest Hill Road,” the suit says.
The suit alleges “the defendant, its agents, apparent agents, servants and/or employees failed to exercise reasonable care regarding the care and protection of Ray Hessel in one or more of the following ways: they failed to act reasonably and/or properly under the circumstances then and there existing when, in the exercise of reasonable and/or proper care, they could and/or should have done so; they failed to properly supervise, care for, aid, and/or protect Ray; they failed to properly supervise, care for, aid, and/or protect Ray 24/7; they failed to properly supervise, care for, aid and/or protect Ray during the time he was in bed; they failed to properly supervise, care for, aid and/or protect Ray at night, thereby allowing him to fall out of bed,” among other claims.
“Ray’s family acted upon the untrue representations made by the defendant, its agents, apparent agents, servants and/or employees, by allowing, continuing to allow and returning Ray to the defendant’s care,” the suit claims.