The Silent Abuse of Elopement and Wandering

presented by: Gary Massey
Last month, a news station in the state of Washington reported on a tragic case in which an 89-year-old man died in the backyard of his nursing home. Although the cause of death has not yet been released, the man had Alzheimer’s disease and left the home without anyone noticing or finding him for hours, which may indicate negligence on the part of the staff. As many people know, Alzheimer’s is a condition that ultimately renders people unable to clearly identify dangers to themselves and to act to prevent harm because their normal thought processes and behaviors have been disrupted by dementia. Because of these risk factors, anyone with Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia who is living in a nursing home must be carefully watched so that he or she cannot go out unsupervised. It is one of the most crucial jobs of the nursing home staff to provide this type of protection.
Elopement and wandering are the two terms used to describe what happens when someone with dementia slips away unnoticed. If a nursing home resident leaves the nursing home completely and he or she is alone, that is elopement. If the resident is walking around the home and its grounds without any purpose or help, that is wandering. Both of these situations pose a danger to the resident, and both are preventable if the staff does its job properly.
There are multiple dangers to residents with dementia who leave the safety of their nursing home, including the possibility of being injured in traffic or by strangers, of walking so far that they become lost and unable to get home, of falling, or of missing the time for taking a necessary medication or receiving a treatment. For all of these reasons, it is imperative that nursing homes have safeguards in place to protect and care for their vulnerable residents. When they don’t follow reasonable precautions for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, it may be a case of nursing home abuse, and they may be held legally liable for any injuries or deaths that result.

Author Profile

Gary Massey, Jr., is a well-known courtroom advocate practicing law in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Gary is a native of Tennessee who began practicing law in 1998. He graduated from Cumberland School of Law where he was ranked in the top 3% of his class and was an editor of the Cumberland Law Review.


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