Nursing Home Resident and Worker Involved in Hit and Run Accident
Recently at around 10 p.m., an 83-year-old resident in a wheelchair left a Michigan nursing home for an unknown reason, and then got his wheelchair stuck in the road across from the facility. A staff member from the nursing home responded and was trying to help him back to the facility when a car struck both of them and drove away without stopping.
Both victims of the hit and run were hospitalized. The resident is in critical condition, and the staff member is in stable condition.
The police are looking for the vehicle described as a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo with red lettering on the front, damage to the passenger side, and possibly a faulty tail light.
The nursing home offered no explanation about why the man was outside so late, and only said that they were saddened by the unfortunate incident and applauded their employee’s actions.
A neighbor reported that there is frequently an elderly man in a wheelchair out on the sidewalk waving to cars, and she believes he is the resident who was hit.
Compliance Perspective
Allowing residents to venture outside the facility unaccompanied and failing to ensure that those residents are free of accident hazards and have adequate supervision may be considered substandard quality of care and result in the submission of false claims.
Please discuss this issue/alert at the department head meeting. If applicable, consider these actions:
- Review policies and procedures to prevent residents from leaving the facility unaccompanied—especially after dark.
- Train staff on ways to re-direct residents seeking to leave the facility unaccompanied until a staff member is available to be with them.
- Audit the facility’s entrances and exits at night and on weekends to determine if there are residents who leave the facility unaccompanied.
