Silver Golub & Teitell Files Lawsuit for Woman Denied Lifesaving Measures, Calls for State to License Adult Day Care Centers

December 4, 2024

Silver Golub & Teitell has filed a lawsuit seeking accountability from an adult day care center in New Britain, Connecticut, that failed to take the most basic lifesaving steps when an elderly woman in its charge collapsed during a daycare activity.

For almost seven minutes, employees at Juniper Homecare LLC did nothing other than fan Clotilde Gamarra with a piece of paper. During that time, they performed no CPR and administered no automated emergency defibrillator (AED). By the time emergency medical technicians arrived, Ms. Gamarra had lost too much oxygen to her brain and had suffered a catastrophic brain injury. Tragically, she died a few weeks later.

Ms. Gamarra’s injury could easily have been prevented by the timely administration of proper emergency care, according to the lawsuit which was brought by Ms. Gamarra’s daughter, Peggy Day.

“When you entrust your elderly parent to an adult day care center, especially one that promises nursing and medical supervision, you expect the employees will be properly trained and the center will have functioning emergency equipment on hand and employees who know how to use it,” said Silver Golub & Teitell partner Jennifer Goldstein, who represents Ms. Day.

“Juniper was negligent in failing to provide proper emergency care, causing an otherwise healthy woman to suffer a devastating brain injury and die,” Ms. Goldstein said.

Currently, adult day care centers do not have to be licensed by the State of Connecticut, and instead are monitored only by the Connecticut Association of Adult Day Services, a voluntary trade association comprised of owners and operators of adult day care facilities.

“There is an urgent need for the state to step in and license and oversee adult day care centers,” Ms. Goldstein said. “What happened to my client’s mother should never happen to another elderly customer of an adult day care facility.”

The lawsuit, Day v. Juniper Homecare LLC, was filed in Superior Court in Hartford, No. HHD-CV-25-6195492-S.

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