A 95-year-old Staten Island nursing home resident’s death has been ruled a homicide by the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office — a case that raises questions many families don’t think to ask until something similar happens to their own loved one: what happens when the person who harms a nursing home resident is another resident, not a staff member?
According to news reports, Noemi Noto, 95, was found with head trauma on April 9, 2022, at Carmel Richmond Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Staten Island. She died eight days later, on April 17, 2022. Reporting indicates the injury occurred during an altercation with another resident, an 84-year-old woman. More than six months after her death, on October 26, 2022, the Medical Examiner’s Office classified the death as a homicide. At the time of the reporting we reviewed, the NYPD and the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office were investigating, and no criminal charges had been publicly announced. A separate attorney representing the family reportedly filed a notice of claim against the facility, alleging a failure to adequately supervise or separate residents with a history of aggression.
We are not involved in this case, and we don’t have information beyond what’s been publicly reported. We’re writing about it because it illustrates a type of nursing home liability that doesn’t get talked about as often as it should.
What “Ruled a Homicide” Actually Means
It’s worth being precise here, because the word “homicide” gets misunderstood. A medical examiner’s homicide ruling is a classification of the manner of death — meaning another person’s actions caused the death — as opposed to death by accident, natural causes, or suicide. It is not the same thing as a criminal charge or a conviction. Homicide, in this technical sense, does not by itself establish that anyone committed a crime; that determination is made separately, through a criminal investigation and, if charges are filed, a criminal court process. A homicide ruling can also exist alongside a civil negligence case against a facility, which operates under a completely different legal standard than a criminal prosecution.
Nursing Homes Have a Duty to Protect Residents From Each Other
Most people think of nursing home neglect in terms of a facility failing to feed, bathe, medicate, or monitor a resident properly. But nursing homes also have a legal duty to protect residents from foreseeable harm caused by other residents — this is a well-established area of premises liability and nursing home negligence law.
Facilities are required to properly assess incoming and existing residents for a history of aggression, cognitive decline that could lead to aggressive behavior, or prior incidents with other residents, and to take reasonable steps in response — which can include increased supervision, room reassignment, or a modified care plan. When a facility knows or should have known that a resident posed a risk to others and fails to act, and another resident is seriously injured or killed as a result, that failure can support a nursing home negligence claim separate from any criminal investigation into the incident itself.
What a Family Can Do
If your loved one has been seriously injured or has died as a result of an incident with another resident at a nursing home, a few things are worth doing as early as possible:
Request the facility’s incident report in writing, and ask specifically whether the other resident involved had a documented history of aggressive behavior or prior incidents.
Ask for your loved one’s full care plan and any recent changes to it, since a facility that recently reduced supervision or changed a roommate assignment may have relevant records.
Keep your own written timeline of what you were told, by whom, and when — nursing home cases often hinge on what the facility knew and when it knew it.
Speak with an attorney before agreeing to anything the facility’s insurer proposes, since these cases involve a different standard of proof than most people expect.
Talk to a Staten Island Nursing Home Neglect Attorney
If you believe a facility’s failure to protect your loved one from another resident contributed to a serious injury or death, you have options, and it’s worth understanding them before you make any decisions. For more on when nursing home negligence rises to this level, see our overview of when nursing home negligence can be fatal, or visit our Nursing Home Neglect practice area page for a fuller look at how these cases work.
Call The Law Offices of Frank J. Dito, Jr. at 718.701.2776 (toll-free: 800.310.5520) for a free, confidential consultation. We’re available 24/7, and you pay nothing unless we win your case.
The Law Offices of Frank J. Dito, Jr. — 1610 Richmond Road, #200, Staten Island, NY 10304
