Three Chicago Nursing Home Patients Suffering From Mental Illnesses Are Found Safe After They Were Reported Missing
Three mentally ill patients at the Balmoral Nursing Home in Chicago are now accounted for and safe. Missing persons reports had been issued for all three of them.
The first patient who disappeared was Donald Stewart. The 70-year-old suffers from schizoaffective disorder. Police had said that the last time his whereabouts were known was on Wednesday when he walked out of the assisted living facility's front door. Two days later, nursing home resident Earnest Wade also reportedly disappeared after she left the assisted living facility. The 61-year-old suffers from bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and is an alcoholic. A third person, Josephine Gallegos, 64, also was reported missing after she too left the nursing home. She also has schizoaffective disorder.
Now, officials are saying that at all three patients were accounted for the entire time. They are back at the assisted living facility and are unharmed.
According to the administrator at the North Side nursing home, there are patients at the facility that are allowed to come and go. However, Illinois law requires that a missing persons report be filed if a resident misses curfew. One police detective says that nursing homes file about 15 such reports daily and that most cases resolve themselves.
Wandering/Elopement
That said, Chicago, Illinois nursing homes are responsible for their patients’ physical safety. This means making sure that, in addition to protecting residents from becoming the victims of nursing home abuse, neglect, or patient violence, assisted facility workers must see to it that residents who are not able to take care of themselves are not allowed to wander off unsupervised.
Some nursing home residents that disappear can end up getting hit by a car, injured during a fall accident, or may freeze to death, starve, or become the victim of a violent crime. If your loved one was injured after eloping from an assisted living facility, you may have grounds for filing a Chicago, Illinois nursing home neglect lawsuit.
Three Patients Missing From North Side Nursing Home Found, MyFoxChicago, March 31, 2010
3 missing patients found, raises concerns, WBBM, March 30, 2010
Related Web Resources:
The National Institute for Elopement Prevention and Resolution
