Nursing Homes Abuse Blog
A Prime Example Of How Not To Treat An Injured Nursing Home Patient.... Ignoring Them
I've got a confession to make. Sometimes when I'm in my office I make personal calls. Sometimes I even take time away from my day to forward email chains of perverted jokes to friends.&nbs...
Keep reading »Wandering (also known as elopement) refers to a situation where a cognitively impaired person moves about a nursing home or long-term care facility without appreciating 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 or elope should be identified in an initial care plan, and preventive measures should be implemented by the facility.
Preventing Wandering Of Nursing Home Patients
To prevent wandering, nursing homes should:
- Train nursing home staff in how to identify patients who may be wandering from the facility.
- Have sufficient number of staff members to recognize when a patient is missing.
- Use bed, wheelchair or door alarms to alert staff when a patient is leaving the facility.
- Re-direct patients who are wandering.
Nursing Home Liability For Wandering-Related Injuries and Death
Nursing homes must acknowledge the risks associated with patient wandering and elopement and take steps to keep incidents from occurring in the first place. Most disabled patients who leave the safety of their nursing home are not prepared to cope with the dangers of the everyday world and commonly sustain a severe injury or death thereafter.
When facilities fail to implement preventive measures, they may be held responsible for the resulting patient injuries. Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers can help investigate and prosecute nursing home wandering cases and can provide you with peace of mind as to the circumstances surrounding the wandering episode.
Related Articles From Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers:
State Steps In After Second Episode Involving Patient Elopement At Same Facility
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! (Continue reading via the link above)
Assisted Living Facilities Need To Re-Evaluate If They Are Capable Of Caring For Dementia Patients
Many assisted living facilities and other nursing home alternative facilities have done very well financially– playing into the stigma associated with nursing homes that many people hold. While nursing homes may receive a fair amount of bad press, they provide essential medical services for millions of patients.
The level of care offered at assisted living facilities simply is not intended to take the place of the skilled nursing care offered in nursing homes.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen too many assisted living facilities fail to accurately inform families about the limitations in care that they offer. In most cases, it is up to the assisted living facility to inform families about the type of care they can provide and to do an assessment of each patient’s realistic care needs.…(Continue reading via the link above)
What Can Nursing Homes Learn From Jails?
Why in the world would I suggest the the people who are responsible for the care of our most vulnerable take a lesson from those responsible for most violent? The answer has to do with how nursing homes keep track of their residents.
Call it wandering, eloping or just escaping, there have been several recent reports of nursing home residents who have wandered from their facilities to their death without the facilities knowledge. When nursing home residents leave their safe and familiar facilities that are at the mercy of a world unaware of each residents needs. Two recent cases highlight the need for nursing homes to take notes from the jails in the way they monitor residents, staff their facilities and implement basic safeguards to minimize the risks of missing residents….(Continue reading via the link above)