Gilmer Nursing Home resident Dorothy Broome was found in her wheelchair along South Main Street in Ellijay around 10 p.m. Aug. 25. She was later taken to Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Hospital where she passed away around 2 a.m. the next day.
Police are unsure how long Ms. Broome was in the ditch.
Although the doors of the nursing home are generally locked from the inside, a fire alarm had been pulled earlier in the night on Aug. 25, enabling them to unlock.
“We have not been able to determine that anyone rolled her out of the nursing home,” Ellijay Police Chief Edward Lacey told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “So unless some other facts show otherwise, it appears she rolled herself out when the alarm was pulled.”
The exact cause of death is unknown. There is no word yet on whether workers at the facility will face charges in Ms. Broome’s death.
Gilmer Nursing Home said it was fully cooperating with the investigation, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
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