By: William M. Berman, Managing Partner of Berman & Riedel, LLP
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - A passerby spotted the body of an elderly man in the bushes to the side of the southbound 405 Freeway near Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. The victim, yet to be identified, appeared to be in his mid-60s, and was in attire that made it seem as though he had just been released from a hospital or skilled nursing facility. However, the exact circumstances surrounding his death are still under investigation.
Hospital and skilled nursing facility wandering incidents present an all too common problem among elderly people. Wandering incidents, or elopements, are often the result of patients suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, leading them to become confused. Oftentimes, such episodes indicate an underlying lack of care or attention on the part of the care facility. Tragically, when patients wander away from the facility, they are often suffer serious injury or even death as a result of being involved in accidents with motor vehicles.
When an elderly care facility admits a patient with a documented history of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or that is known to wonder, that facility has a special duty to pay even closer attention to these patients than they do to their general population. Still, despite this heightened responsibility, many elderly patients or residents wander away from skilled nursing facilities or residential care facilities for the elderly every year.
The attorneys at Berman & Riedel, LLP, having litigated several wandering cases against California elderly care facility’s. Through this work, Berman & Riedel, LLP has found that, even when a patient/resident is known to have a tendency to wandering, the staff at these facilities can often become overworked, and end up not noticing or overlooking these disappearances. Unfortunately, however, in such a situation, being overworked and committing and oversight can have very serious and lasting consequences.
If you or a loved one have suffered an injury or loss as a result of a wandering incident, please call the attorneys at Berman & Riedel, LLP. Berman & Riedel, LLP is uniquely qualified in the areas of Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect, and can offer much needed assistance during a potentially devastating and confusing time.
William M. Berman is the Founding and Managing Partner of the San Diego based civil litigation firm, Berman & Riedel, LLP. Mr. Berman is known for having developed firm’s nursing home and elder abuse litigation department, which quickly became one of the most prominent elder abuse and neglect practices in the State of California. He words diligently on behalf of his clients not just to obtain the compensation to which they are entitled, but also to bring the issues of elder abuse and neglect to the forefront of the media and state legislature’s attention.