Nursing homes provide essential care, medical support, and a safe environment for those who can no longer live independently. These facilities owe an immense responsibility to their elderly and disabled residents: to protect them from harm, even if that requires around-the-clock care and monitoring. Unfortunately, some nursing homes fail to prevent residents from wandering away unsupervised, leading to severe and sometimes fatal consequences.
What Is Nursing Home Elopement?
Nursing home elopement occurs when a resident leaves the facility without supervision or the staff’s knowledge. Unlike a planned departure or supervised outing, elopement happens when residents—often those with cognitive impairments—exit the premises undetected. When a resident elopes, they can place themselves in potentially dangerous situations.
Call (480) 991-7677 for a free consultation about your nursing home elopement case.
Common Reasons Why Nursing Home Residents Elope
Multiple factors contribute to nursing home elopement, ranging from resident-specific conditions to facility-wide issues. These include:
- Cognitive Impairment and Memory Loss: Residents with conditions like dementia or Alzheimer’s disease often experience disorientation and confusion about their location, causing them to attempt to return to familiar places from their past, such as a former home or workplace. These residents may not know they are in a care facility or recognize the dangers of leaving unsupervised.
- Medication-Related Confusion: Certain medications can cause side effects that increase wandering behavior, including disorientation, agitation, or restlessness. When residents experience these medication-induced symptoms, they may become confused about their surroundings and attempt to leave the facility.
- Staffing and Training Deficiencies: When a nursing home doesn’t have enough staff or fails to properly train caregivers, these employees can fail to properly supervise or monitor residents. As a result, at-risk residents can easily leave the premises undetected.
- Underestimating Physical Abilities: Staff members sometimes mistakenly assume that residents with mobility challenges or physical limitations cannot leave the facility independently. This assumption can lead to fewer monitoring and security measures, creating opportunities for residents to elope.
- Inadequate Facility Security: Poor security measures, such as malfunctioning door alarms, broken surveillance systems, or unlocked exits, make it much easier for residents to leave without detection.
What Are the Risks of Elopement for Elderly or Disabled People?
When residents elope from nursing homes, they face life-threatening dangers that can result in severe injury or death. Confused or disoriented residents often wander into hazardous situations without recognizing the risks. They may attempt to cross busy streets without checking for traffic. Residents could develop hypothermia in cold conditions or heat stroke and dehydration in hot weather.
Falls are another major risk, especially for residents with mobility issues or those taking medications that affect balance. These falls frequently result in broken bones, head trauma, or internal injuries that can prove fatal for elderly or disabled people. Residents who elope may also become lost in unfamiliar areas, unable to find their way back or seek help. Without access to their medications or equipment, any underlying medical conditions can worsen or deteriorate.
Seek Justice with Knapp & Roberts by Your Side
Nursing homes are responsible for preventing elopement through proper security measures, adequate staffing, and appropriate resident monitoring. When facilities fail to implement these safeguards and a resident elopes, resulting in injury or death, the family deserves justice.
Contact a lawyer near you:
- Mesa Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
- Chandler Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
- Gilbert Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
- Scottsdale Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
- Glendale Nursing Home Abuse Attorney
Nursing homes can be held responsible for elopement-related injuries through a personal injury or a Phoenix wrongful death lawsuit.