Wandering (also referred to elopement) refers to a cognitively impaired person moving about a nursing home or long-term care facility without appreciation for where they are going. In some cases of patients suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia, they may attempt to leave the facility.
A nursing home resident’s propensity to wander / elope should be identified in an initial care plan and preventative measures should be implemented by the facility.
How Nursing Homes Can Prevent Patients From Wandering From Their Facility
Common preventative measures include:
- Provide an adequate number of staff to supervise residents
- Train nursing home staff on how to identify wanders
- Use bed, wheelchair or door alarms
- Re-direct patients who are wandering
- Utilize door and window alarms
Nursing Home Liability For Wandering-Related Injuries & Death
Nursing homes must acknowledge the risks associated with patient wandering and elopement and take steps to minimize incidents from occurring in the first place. When facilities fail to implement preventative measures, they may be held responsible for the resulting patient injuries.
Related materials from Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers:
One of the most basic safeguards a nursing home can implement to protect its patients — regardless of the patients overall condition— is to have staff available to supervise and periodically check on patients while they are actively engaged in activities as well as when they are resting.
While some activities may command supervision from a person specifically trained to care for a particular condition, most daily supervision can be done by any employee that is alert….
Wandering in a potentially deadly problem for nursing home patients with dementia and other medical conditions that make them unable to appreciate the dangers around them.
While not a common problem, wandering from nursing homes puts particularly vulnerable patients at risk for harming themselves when they find themselves in the outside world with no one to look after them….
Criminal charges have been brought against three nursing home workers on duty the night an Alzheimer’s patient wandered from Texas nursing home to his death. The three were employed in various capacities at a facility known as Tumbleweed Nursing Home on the evening of February 3rd of this year.
Surveillance video from the nursing home demonstrated that an Alzheimer’s patient that the staff was responsible for supervising wandered without any intervention from the safety of the nursing home into the frigid outside temperatures. Hours after the patient left the nursing home, he was found dead outside. An autopsy revealed that the man’s death was related to hypothermia….
Another unnecessary death of an assisted living patient grabbed my attention in Greensboro, North Carolina. News reports indicate 85-year-old Edith Purvis walked out the side-door at a Loyalton Assisted Living facility on December 24th. She wasn’t discovered missing until staff at the facility conducted a routine bed check.
Ms. Purvis wasn’t located until several hours later when staff at the facility found her body close to the door she is believed to have exited from. Despite efforts to resuscitate her, Ms. Purvis was pronounced dead upon arrival at Moses Cone Hospital. Her death was primarily related to exposure to the freezing temperatures….
I think its downright scary when facilities fail to learn from their mistakes. Of course, — any person, — any facility can make a mistake one time, but when the same errors are repeatedly made I feel there is well deserved cause for concern.
An episode of a patient wandering from Brentwood Assisted Living facility, would normally not be a particularly noteworthy event— especially since the eloping woman will hopefully recover from her injuries. What deservedly brings more attention to this incident is the fact that this was the second patient to wander from this facility this year!…
The family of a deceased nursing home patient has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Hunter Acres Caring Center and other affiliated entities. The lawsuit comes after a March 18, 2010 incident in which the patient wandered from the Missouri nursing home onto the nearby train track where she was struck and killed by a freight train. Wandering tragedies such as this are more common than many would like to believe. Many nursing home patients, particularly those suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s, may have a tendency to wander or elope from facilities….
Resource:
About Jonathan Rosenfeld
Jonathan Rosenfeld is a lawyer who represents people injured in nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Jonathan has represented victims of nursing home abuse and neglect throughout Illinois and across the country. Jonathan’s reputation as an aggressive advocate for the…
