What Happens When Residents Wander Away From Nursing Homes Or Assisted Living Facilities?
Several years ago we represented a family whose love one was living at an assisted living facility in Walker County, Alabama. He had a history of "escaping" the facility and the facility, we alleged, did not take the steps to protect this gentleman. The end result was he left one day without anyone knowing it and then a manhunt ensued that led to the discovery of his dead body a day or two later. We alleged that this tragedy could have been prevented by simple inexpensive solutions such as an alarm or other warning system that a back door had been opened. This was particularly true since this man had repeatedly left the facility and the staff was on notice of his tendencies but did not take the necessary steps to protect him.
I was reminded of this when I read a posting in a wonderful blog called Nursing Homes Abuse Blog by Jonathon Rosenfield. His recent post about a similar situation brought this memory back. I have looked through this blog and it looks to be full of high quality information so I recommend it to your reading.
If you have a loved one in a nursing home or an assisted living facility then it will be wise for you to ask what their policies and practices are to protect your loved one should he or she become confused and try to leave the facility - usually "to get home"....
