A jury will consider next week whether a Bluffton care home is responsible for the death of a 79-year-old dementia patient who slipped out of the facility.
Trial proceedings are expected to begin Monday in the wrongful death lawsuit against The Palmettos of Bluffton and its parent company. The suit was filed by the family of Jack Tribble, whose body was found a half-mile from the assisted living facility two weeks after he wandered out of its memory care unit in August 2023.
An autopsy determined Tribble died of acute bronchopneumonia caused by environmental exposure, according to court filings. He had Lewy body dementia, a progressive disease that leads to cognitive decline, visual hallucinations and movement issues similar to symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Filed in Beaufort County civil court in 2024, the lawsuit alleges The Palmetto’s “negligent and substandard care” allowed Tribble, who had a known history of wandering and elopement, to pass through a keypad-locked entryway and walk out of the facility the evening of Aug. 23, 2023…