Elopement Dangers and Nursing Homes: Is Your Love One Safe?
Posted by
Dan FrithJuly 09, 2009 12:05 PM
Elopement Dangers and Nursing Homes: Is Your Loved One Safe?
When it comes to assisted living facilities and nursing homes we expect our loved ones to be cared for properly. Unfortunately, these facilities often neglect the ones they are paid to provide care for. Nursing home residents with dementia, as well as those with limited physical capabilities can endanger themselves if they manage to leave the facility unattended.
When nursing homes fail to have proper procedures in place or fail to adhere to procedure they may be liable for the injuries or wrongful deaths that result. A recent occurrence highlights this neglect and takes it to a whole new level. A North Carolina nursing home has just been sued on the grounds that they allowed an 85-year-old woman to wander away from the facility. The woman became disoriented and later died from a head injury after she fell into a nearby ravine. This kind of occurrence is typically referred to as “nursing home elopement”.
Although death is the most serious consequence which can result from elopement, other injuries include fractures, heat stroke, and hypothermia. Obviously, nursing homes take preventative measures to reduce these types of situations. For example, nursing homes train staff members, determine who high risk for wandering is, and install door alarms as well as cameras in order to monitor residents. Nonetheless, 10% of all lawsuits against nursing homes involve cases of wandering patients or residents. Elopements present a serious issue that can have devastating effects upon families, residents, and nursing home facilities.
This case highlights the importance of doing your due diligence when you enroll your loved one into the care of an organized facility. After the resident's death, the Department of Social Services penalized the facility (named “Primrose”) by levying fines against them for several safety violations. Among these fines, one is for improper supervision of residents in a situation that can lead to severe injury.
When you are looking to place a loved one into supervised or assisted care make sure that you research whether the facility has any prior violations. Ask the facility Administrator and check with the state agency which has oversight responsibility for nursing homes or assisted living facilities. If the facility has experienced problems with elopement, find out what measures they have taken to prevent these situations from happening again. If your loved one has special needs or suffers certain ailments that make him/her prone to wandering then you should inform the facility of this so that they can ensure proper care. These facilities are paid to provide care to the residents and should be held accountable for their negligence in failing to doing so.