ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Elopement (Wandering Off) A Serious Risk With Elderly Dementia Patients
Holding Nursing Homes Accountable
Earlier this year, a California care home owner was sentenced to jail for the death of a 65-year-old dementia patient struck and killed by a car when he wandered out of the care home where he lived.[1] During investigation of the patient’s death, authorities determined that the assisted care facility did not have a license to care for dementia patients and that the owner/licensee admitted the dementia patient anyway despite the facility staff’s initial refusal to admit the elderly man because of his medical condition. It was a truly tragic story illustrating just how serious it is when a dementia patient is free to wander out of a care facility.
The Marin County and California elder and nursing home abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. litigate against nursing homes and their owners and administrators for licensing violations, and neglecting statutory duties and standards of care required of them. Our litigators can represent you or a loved one injured as a result of any abuse or neglect in a care facility, including as a result of wandering or elopement. Our attorneys know how to investigate these cases and what remedies are available to victims and their families. If you or someone you love suffered nursing home abuse or neglect in Marin County or elsewhere in California, call the elder abuse and nursing home abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm today at 415-441-8669, and we can help.
California State Attorney General Xavier Becerra has pledged to crack down on care facility owners that break the law. In speaking of the fatality, Becerra stated, “My heart breaks for this family and the tragic loss they had to endure. Elderly patients and their families place the highest level of trust in care facilities and their staff to protect residents, not neglect their needs. My office will vigorously go after facilities that violate the law and endanger the residents they are charged to care for.” Any injury or suspicion should be reported to the authorities (police and Adult Protective Services) immediately. But you should also seek counsel such as the elder abuse lawyers at Evans Law Firm when any injury occurs in order to pursue all available remedies against those accountable.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one is or has been injured wandering off from an assisted care facility, in-home caregiver or nursing home or been the victim of any other form of elder or nursing home abuse in Marin County or elsewhere in California, contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other elder and nursing home abuse attorneys at the Evans Law Firm at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. We can help guide your case through a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
[1] Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in the case in any way.
