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My father, nearing 90, suffers from dementia. He recently had minor surgery and needed to spend a few days in a nursing home, he was admitted on Friday. At the nursing home he was placed in a room next to the nursing station so they "could keep an eye on him", on his first day there he tried to leave the facilities on his own but was stopped. On Monday he managed to leave the nursing home without being noticed. A few hours later two men were checking out a field not far from the nursing home and found my father lying in a ditch, he was bruised up and covered in dirt, the temp that day was in the 90's which caused his kidneys to start shutting down. They called 911 and because of their actions they saved my fathers life that day. My father was admitted to the hospital and stayed for three days. In the meantime the nursing home was not aware or had not contacted anyone in regards to my fathers disappearance. So far the nursing home reimbursed my mother the one remaining day my father wasn't there she had prepaid to them. Do we have any recourse against the nursing home?
It's hard to say. No matter how good a home is, some patients seem to have a knack for getting away. My mother loved to play "hide and seek" and managed to get out numerous times. I knew how she was and my main concern was that they would refuse to keep her. They would notice her missing and have no idea which way she was headed. They often found her hiding in the men's section.
So, while I can see why you are concerned, this happens. Could they have found him earlier? Maybe, maybe not. there may have been an emergency of some sort about that time. It only takes a second or two for a patient to wander.
I do think the NH should have been in contact with you as soon as they knew. Anything less is inacceptable.
Nursing homes are required by law to use the least restrictive measures possible. Your father got there Friday, and they took the step of keeping him close to them, do you know what other steps they took, such as alarms or a wanderguard?
They are not allowed to jump right to very restrictive measures like drugs, restraints, lap trays, things like that. The way it works by the state laws, the person really has to have something bad happen before they can take such steps (like a major fall, or leaving the facility), and it doesn't sound like he was there long enough for them to have been justified in those measures before he eloped. Do you know what it is it you would have wanted them to do to make sure dad couldn't get out? Did you express concerns about him leaving, and did he have a history of this behavior that the nursing home was aware of? These are all questions to ask.
Be honest with yourself though about what it is you believe they should have or could have done. I know it was a scary thing, but things happen, and it is very difficult to balance preserving the dignity and rights of someone with dementia with keeping them safe. The difficulty is much higher when the resident is ambulatory.
Another thing is that fire regulations require that doors be easily opened from the inside. The ones in mother's NH were of the push-bar type at the end of each hall. all a patient had to do to get out was to just lean against it a little. He may have done something like that. Dementia patients still understand how to hide. And they do.
So yes, you may have a case against the NH, but what was or wasn't done in his case would be hard to determine.
It seems like its not so much that the Nursing Home allowed the gentleman to wander off - but that the man left the facility on Monday, was overcome by heat exhaustion/dehydration and was admitted to a hospital for 3 days -- and apparently during that time the nursing home did not contact anyone to report the man missing.
I'm pretty sure that the family has a right to be upset and concerned about such things.
If I were the OP, I would contact the STATE bureau that licenses/inspects nursing homes. Every state has an ombudsman of some sort -- I would contact them and report the nursing home. These types of incidents (as well as any sort of physcial abuse, etc..) are supposed to be reported. A lot of nursing homes do not want to report them, because of course it reflects negatively on them.
I have no idea whether you have a civil suit against them (libel would not be appropriate charge as that is basically a charge of making a false statement against someone - for instance printing in a newspaper that someone is a thief, with no proof/evidence - they could sue you for libel) --- but certainly I would not put your father back into that home and I would make sure that this incident was reported.
So glad you're father was found and is recovering.
Sorry!!! I didn't follow the time line well enough. If the NH DID NOT notify anyone that the patient had wandered off, then, yes. That's something that should be checked into. However, since he was admitted to a hospital after being found in the field, some idiot may have assumed that the family had been notified. Good manners, if nothing else should have had the NH call the family to check on his condition.
Did that "few hours' between the time he left and the time he was found involve a shift change? You would think they would check all patients at shift change.
Try to negotiate a settlement with the nursing home. If you can't get them to pay for your father's expenses and perhaps also for distress, then see a lawyer. Also, find a local rep from your state's Department of Aging for advice. You should be able to find him or her in the blue pages of the phone book.
I think they should be held liable, but I'm not an attorney. Don't ask legal advice from non-lawyers. Find a lawyer who handles stuff like this. Attorneys are listed in the phone book, often with their specialties.
Your thread is "is nursing home libel?" --- I interpreted that as the legal term "libel" which as I described earlier has to do with slandering someone in print (making a false accusation that will harm someone's repuatation).
I think you meant - LIABLE --- which is pronounced very similarly, but means "legally responsible".
Yes, the nursing home was liable for your fathers safety and well being while he was a resident there. No idea whether you have any sort of legal case against them just on the grounds that he wandered off, however you certain do (as discussed above) have a reportable incident that you could take to the state authorities that oversee the home.
If you want to file suit against the NH for your father's medical expenses during his hospitalization on the grounds that their carelessness led to his heat exhaustion/kidney failure and subsequent medical expenses, you may very well be able to find a lawyer to take that case. However, many NH are run/owned by large for profit corporations, and likely will fight extensively - so financially you may come out on the losing side (lawyer's fees are not cheap).
good luck whatever you decide to do, and again, so glad your dad was found and is getting the care he needs.
Thank you for your responses. I did mean liable, sorry for the misunderstanding. We will report the incident to the state governing agency as I am sure the NH will not report it. We are currently in the process of gathering all the reports; police, fire department, EMT, emergency room and doctor reports to forward onto the NH corporate office. One of our biggest concerns was he was gone for at least 2-3 hours and the NH was unaware he was missing. It wasn't till the police contacted my mother and notified her they were taking him to the hospital, she then called the NH is when the NH realized he was missing.
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