Caring for aging loved ones requires specialized care. Often, you can’t do it alone. Medical leaders design nursing homes to be safe and stable places with empathetic and caring staff members. After all, if your loved one is dealing with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, they need extra monitoring to keep them safe.
However, some nursing homes are lax in their duties and leave residents to their own devices. Understand wandering and nursing home neglect to prepare for unfortunate circumstances.
If a resident with a cognitive disorder like Alzheimer’s or dementia is left alone, they may escape from the view of the nursing home staff. Wandering refers to a nursing home resident who gets lost on the grounds of the facility.
Elopement, meanwhile, means that the resident has left the property altogether. Residents who elope are often harder to find and are at more risk of getting hurt.
Wandering and elopement cases are unfortunate but avoidable. A nursing home that is properly secured and adequately staffed can prevent residents from wandering. Your loved one’s facility should have the following:
If your loved one does wander or elope from their nursing home, they are in more danger of illness or injury. They could walk into traffic without realizing it or develop hypothermia from being out in the cold for too long.
Talk to the staff at your loved one’s nursing home. Who let them out of their sight? A hospital negligence attorney can help you investigate what went wrong and how the nursing home can make it right. One or more members of the staff could be liable for any harm that came to your loved one after they wandered away.
Wandering and elopement cases in nursing homes are stressful but often completely avoidable. If your loved one does slip away, the facility’s staff may have to answer for their lack of attention. Call Rossman Law Group to understand wandering and nursing home neglect more thoroughly.