Nursing Home Injury Attorneys – Fatalities After Wandering, Elopement or Escape

Experienced South Carolina Nursing Home Injury Lawyers Help Families Seek Justice After Wandering Injuries

Many elderly South Carolinians require specialized care as they age. For these people, staying at home is no longer an option because they cannot keep themselves safe. 

When a family looks for a South Carolina nursing home, they look for a place that can protect their loved one who cannot care for themselves anymore. If a nursing home resident escapes from a nursing home, it can unfortunately result in a fatality.

If your loved one slipped past nursing home staff, left the nursing home, and was injured, speak to an experienced South Carolina nursing home escape attorney today. 

The Risks South Carolina Nursing Home Residents Can Face 

Nursing home residents need regular supervision for their daily routines. Typical conditions that can prevent an elderly person from performing daily routines include memory problems, difficulty thinking clearly, and vision or hearing impairments. 

In addition, some South Carolina nursing home residents don’t understand why they need others to help them stay safe – or why they need to stay in a safe area at a nursing home facility. Residents may walk out of their living space into another area of a nursing home, where they may suffer serious injuries that can lead to death. They may leave the premises entirely and become lost on unfamiliar streets, get injured in traffic, get assaulted, experience a trip-and-fall accident, or suffer other injuries. 

Studies of elopement, or escapes from nursing home settings, find that elopement is more likely to result in death than other types of wandering among elderly individuals. Not all cases of wandering result in the elderly person leaving the nursing home. “Elopement,” in which the elderly person leaves their home or nursing home, is the most dangerous type of wandering, with the highest injury risk. 

Statistics on nursing home escape, wandering, or elopement estimate that 20 percent of all older Americans with dementia “wander” or walk away from their home or care setting at least once while they have dementia. In nursing homes, this number appears to be higher; approximately 31 percent of nursing home residents with dementia will wander at least once. 

The Consequences of Nursing Home Negligence for Your Loved One in South Carolina

According to South Carolina’s Public Radio, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires registered nurses in nursing home facilities to work 8 consecutive hours each day and be supervised 24 hours a day by any other level licensed nurse. Unfortunately, this may not always be consistent. South Carolina nursing home facilities face consistent problems with understaffing, untrained staff, improper monitoring of residents, and other issues. 

Each nursing home is required to follow 42 CFR § 483.35. To create a safe and secure environment for their residents, nursing homes should have video surveillance, in-room monitoring, fire safety measures, and perimeter security. Cameras can help nursing staff keep an eye on their residents when they are outside their rooms. Also, in-room motion sensors or service buttons can help residents alert their nursing home staff members.

For residents with memory care problems such as dementia, perimeter security could help keep them safer. An example of this can be a team member having a PIN or keycard to access certain parts of the facility, therefore controlling where residents can enter and exit. Another option is alarmed bracelets that alert staff if a resident leaves their memory care unit. If a nursing home does not have proper safety measures in place, a loved one may escape a nursing home and face an unfortunate death if not found in time. 

Types of Death Factors Associated With Nursing Home Escapes

Common injuries that residents suffer after escaping their nursing home facility include the following:

• Falls. According to a Washington Post article, it was discovered that residents fell into ditches, fell on the road and got hit by a car, or fell into a body of water and drowned. 
• Fractures. The risk of a broken bone is twice as high for wanderers than for those who stay in their nursing homes. 
• Head injuries. A fall during an escape can result in head, neck, back, or spinal cord injuries that may, unfortunately, lead to death.

Risk factors associated with wandering and elopement include:

• Cognitive impairment. Residents with dementia are more likely to wander, although any nursing home resident may do so. 
• Environmental changes. Moving to a new nursing home or to a new room within a nursing home, medication changes, and changes in schedule or routine can all prompt confusion and an urge to wander. 
• Previous attempts. 72 percent of patients who wander once will do it again. 

These risk factors can compound one another. In a study of “chronic” wanderers, for example, 45 percent attempted to leave the premises within 48 hours of admission to a new nursing home – a combination of having previously attempted to elope and a major environmental change. 

Relying solely on “risk factors,” however, isn’t sufficient enough for keeping nursing home residents safe. Studies indicate that even nursing home residents with no obvious risk factors may wander or elope – facing serious risks of death if they do. 

What To Do After a South Carolina Nursing Home Elopement

If your loved one wandered off the premises of a nursing home facility and passed away, there are steps to take to seek justice on their behalf. It’s best to speak with an experienced lawyer who can answer your questions and help you understand your options for protecting your loved one’s legal rights. 

When South Carolina families choose a nursing home, they look for a place that can keep their loved ones safe. When a loved one leaves the facility and suffers injuries, this trust is violated – and the results can be devastating. 

If your loved one escaped from a nursing home and suffered injuries, don’t wait. Talk to an experienced South Carolina nursing home injury lawyer today. To learn more, contact the Steinberg Law Firm to schedule a free, confidential consultation with our compassionate nursing home injury attorney.