Inset: Robert Dutkevitch (Facebook). Background: Robert Dutkevitch outside his Denver nursing home right before he slumped over and began dying in front of staffers, who allegedly failed to locate him and perform CPR for nearly 15 minutes (KCNC).
A 73-year-old Colorado man was “left outside to die” by workers at a nursing home who failed to find him and perform CPR for nearly 15 minutes after he exited the facility and fell out of his wheelchair, state investigators and his wife say.
“I did not respond very well,” a staffer told investigators with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, according to an investigation confirmed by Law&Crime and findings obtained by local CBS affiliate KCNC.
Surveillance footage allegedly shows workers at The Argyle assisted living facility in Denver taking 13 minutes to locate and perform CPR on Robert Dutkevitch after he went outside on a patio to smoke on Jan. 6. Dutkevitch was slumped over in his wheelchair at first before falling to the ground, where he died, the surveillance video shows.
“Robert”s face was planted into the ground,” his wife, Sharon Dutkevitch, wrote in an email to the Denver Police Department, which she shared on her Facebook page. “Robert was denied prompt life-saving measures by his facility caregivers,” the email alleged.
“When you cannot breathe for 13 minutes, you die,” Sharon Dutkevitch said.
A complaint was filed by the widow with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment earlier this year. She has also hired an attorney and plans to file a lawsuit against The Argyle, according to KCNC.
During the CDPHE probe, investigators say they found multiple violations and failures that placed Dutkevitch and other residents in “immediate jeopardy,” KCNC reports.
Staffers waited five minutes before attempting to perform CPR on Dutkevitch, who was disabled and placed in The Argyle in 2022, according to his wife. Call logs obtained by KCNC show that one staffer allegedly told a 911 operator that she did not want to perform chest compressions because she had the flu.
“Robert … deserves justice for what didn’t happen,” Sharon Dutkevitch said in her email to the Denver Police Department.
According to Dutkevitch’s death certificate, he died of natural causes, with acute coronary syndrome and atherosclerosis being listed as the immediate causes, per KCNC.
CDPHE investigators, however, found gaps in training and preparedness that Sharon Dutkevitch believes led directly to his death. One staff member was described in the CDPHE report as being “unaware of how to respond,” while others told investigators that they had not been trained on what to do if a resident was unresponsive.
“He didn’t have a chance,” Sharon Dutkevitch told KCNC. “I don’t understand why caregivers stand around and do not give him CPR. Those people are standing around him doing nothing to help him. That’s what really hurts.”
The widow added, “You’re losing brain cells every second that goes by without CPR.”
Anita Springsteen, the attorney representing Sharon Dutkevitch, told KCNC that staffers did not “seem to be aware there was an emergency going on,” and once they were aware they allegedly “lingered around and didn’t do anything,” the lawyer said.
“Didn’t immediately give CPR, didn’t do the things you would think a facility like that — with trained staff — would do on an immediate basis,” Springsteen said. “It seems like there was a window in there where something could have been done. He could have been saved.”
The Argyle did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment. A spokesperson sent KCNC a statement saying some of the conclusions by CDPHE investigators were incorrect and that safety compliance is taken “extremely seriously” at the facility.
“My heart aches,” Sharon Dutkevitch told KCNC.
“I cry every night,” she said. “I wish I had been there to help him.”
