Retirement community resident in critical condition after assault by another resident: Police

Delaware State Police and the Division of Health Care Quality are investigating an assault at The Summit retirement community in North Star that left a resident critically injured on Tuesday.

Police said a resident in The Summit’s memory care unit attacked another resident, leaving them in critical condition. Officials said they could not provide any additional information, as the investigation is active and ongoing.

The Summit did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Delaware’s struggles to investigate nursing homes, assisted living facilities

The Division of Health Care Quality, which is involved in investigating Tuesday’s incident, has struggled for about a decade to investigate complaints – particularly for assisted living facilities, a Delaware Online/News Journal investigation found. 

Assisted living facilities have no federal oversight, which means it is up to states to serve as a watchdog. Oftentimes, complaints by residents and their families are the only tool Delawareans have to keep long-term care facilities accountable.

And due to staffing and funding issues, many of these complaints went uninvestigated for years.

As of February, the division had almost cleared its backlog in inspections of long-term care facilities.

MORE: Delaware struggles to investigate nursing homes, assisted living facilities. What to know

Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on X at @h_edelman.