‘Caregivers have a responsibility’: Nursing home employee arrested after 82-year-old woman freezes to death

An employee at an assisted living facility in Michigan has been arrested after an 82-year-old resident under her care walked outside during a blizzard and died last year, the Attorney General’s Office said.

Colleen Kelly O’Connor, 58, of East Lansing, is charged with second-degree vulnerable adult abuse, a four-year felony.

According to a press release, O’Connor watched as the victim twice went outside without proper attire during a blizzard and single-digit temperatures with subzero windchill in the early morning hours of Dec. 23, 2022. The victim was identified by the Lansing State Journal as Lois Kathryn Cary. She lived at Vista Springs Imperial Park at Timber Ridge in Clinton County, which is near Lansing. Prosecutors allege that O’Connor “recklessly failed to act to prevent” Cary from going outside in the hazardous conditions.

“Caregivers have a responsibility under the law to act in the face of grave danger to a vulnerable person in their care,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement. “I want to thank the Bath Township Police Department for their partnership during the investigation of this tragic case.”

Michigan caregiver arrested

Colleen O’Connor, bottom inset, is accused of allowing 82-year-old Lois Cary, top inset, to walk out of Vista Springs Imperial Park at Timber Ridge assisted living facility during a December 2022 blizzard in Clinton County, Michigan. Cary was later found dead. (O’Connor: Clinton County Sheriff’s Office; Cary: Obituary; Vista Springs: WLNS/YouTube)

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