CA senior death co. owns MI facilities

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The company that owns a California senior living facility at which a woman died after an employee refused to do CPR also owns facilities in West Michigan.

Despite urgent pleas from a 911 dispatcher and being trained in CPR, a nurse refused to help an elderly resident at a California senior living facility because it is against company policy. Lorraine Bayless, 87, died.

Brookdale Senior Living, the company that owns that property, owns dozens of facilities in Michigan.

Brookdale operates Freedom Village in Holland and four other locations: Sterling House of Battle Creek, Clare Bridge of Battle Creek and Portage, and Wynwood of Portage.

Those facilities range from providing assisted living to skilled nursing care, according to the company's website.

One of the key issues in the incident was the type of facility involved. The California center is essentially an apartment complex for senior citizens and is quite different from an actual nursing home or other care facility.

While residents expect and pay for differing levels of care, they probably don't expect that a life-threatening emergency would be ignored by someone trained to help.

24 Hour News 8 called Brookdale for comment, but has not heard back regarding specific policies for different types of facilities.