Families who can’t meet the needs of their loved ones with dementia rely on assisted living facilities and nursing homes to keep them safe and healthy. That trust is often misplaced because residents wander outside or into a dangerous area inside the building and suffer injuries, which can be fatal.
How Often Do Residents Wander from Facilities? What are the Consequences?
The Washington Post reports that:
- Since 2018, more than 2,000 people have wandered from assisted-living and dementia-care units or left unattended outside, causing the deaths of nearly 100 residents
- Extreme weather is a significant factor, with 61% dying after exposure to extreme heat or cold
Others died after falling into ditches, drowning, or being struck by cars. The Post cites as examples:
- A 77-year-old man died due to multiple organ failure after being found covered in hornet stings and fire ants 20 hours after leaving his North Carolina facility. This was the second time he did so
- A 79-year-old man went into the woods near his South Carolina facility and died nearly two weeks later by drowning in a pool of shallow water
- A resident of a supposedly secure Alzheimer’s unit in Oregon climbed out a window and diedfrom exposure
- One resident left his assisted living facility undetected, possibly following a construction worker out a door, and was found dead two weeks later, less than a half-mile away in a swamp next to a pond. A coroner’s report estimated he died two days before he was discovered
The Post found that five residents walked away from the Woodmont Senior Living in Tallahassee, Florida, since October 2020, including:
- One who crawled out a window and was later found injured and walking along a highway
- Another left and was found more than a day later, a short distance from the facility, washing himself in a park
- A resident was found at a bus station. The facility’s staff didn’t know he was missing until they were told about it
- A 100-year-old resident was found deadon the facility’s grounds by a fire department crew responding to a call for a different emergency. She was next to her walker and died of hypothermia. Staff claimed they thought she was in her room
The Post relied on records from state regulators and press accounts. How many other residents died without being the subject of these accounts is unknown.
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Regulation of Assisted Living Facilities, or Lack Thereof
The federal government regulates nursing homes, but not our roughly 30,000 assisted-living facilities that house about a million people. State laws and regulations cover them. The assisted living facility industry generates about $34 billion in revenues annually.
It’s growing because the country’s population is aging, and about seven million Americans older than 65 have dementia. They’re at risk of wandering because they’re often confused, unaware of the risks they take, are often highly mobile, and object to living where they are.
High Prices But Dangerous Conditions
Some of these “memory-care” units charge substantial amounts for their services. They claim to have well-trained staff, safety systems, and secure facilities that provide family members with peace of mind. Programming supposedly keeps residents engaged and busy and eliminates the desire to leave the building.
However, state inspections after elopement deaths find repeated failures by management and caregivers, such as:
- Insufficient staff to safely supervise residents
- Staff ignoring alarms warning a resident has left an area or the building
- Skipped bed checks
- Staff sleeping on the job
- Neglect of resident needs
- Falsified records
Some facilities continue to make the same mistakes after residents die or suffer catastrophic injuries.
Most states require their assisted living facilities to report preventable deaths and missing residents. However, facilities have been cited more than 200 times since 2018 for failing to report missing residents, which is about 10% of the walkaways identified by The Post.
Negligence Lawsuits Can Bring Accountability When Ineffective Government Regulations Do Not
Criminal charges against responsible facilities and employees are rare, and fines for violations leading to deadly elopements are rarely more than $10,000 (which may be less than two months’ rent at an assisted living facility).
The biggest financial risk facilities face typically comes from personal injury lawsuits, which are usually covered by the facility’s insurance. The average settlement for a wrongful death claim involving elopement is about $350,000, according to an insurance company underwriting assisted living facility policies.
Contact Us Today
The Fleck Firm is here to help you and your family after a loved one is injured or killed due to negligence committed by an assisted living facility. We are dedicated and compassionate when fighting for our clients. Call The Fleck Firm for a free consultation at (270) 446-7000 so we can discuss the situation, Kentucky law, and your best options. Insurance companies have lawyers. You should have one, too.
