Healthcare Compliance Perspective:
Any nursing facility can decrease their risk of elopement with risk assessments completed at admissions, environmental risk factors identified, and elopement drills completed periodically.
A 69-year-old man lived at a non-locked down assisted living center, for just two days when he disappeared in the middle of the night. The facility’s manager told news media that facility staff were with the man just moments before he disappeared. About 15 minutes after that, he was discovered missing; and, when the staff couldn’t find the man around the facility, they called the police. Two weeks later the man’s body was found by a group of children in a nearby creek.
Although police said there was no sign of foul play, they are investigating how the man ended up in the creek.
