The family of a 68-year-old nursing home resident who wandered from the facility to his death, has filed a nursing home negligence lawsuit.  The family of Antoine Saintil recently filed the lawsuit against Broward Institute For Long Term Care after Antoine want missing from facility on Christmas day.  Search efforts by the facility to find Antoine were unsuccessful.  By the time authorities found Antoine in a waterway, two miles from the facility, he had apparently drowned. 

Antoine Saintil's family faced a difficult decision that many families face every day when they placed him in the Florida nursing home--less than a month prior to his death.  However, the family realized a recent stroke left Antoine disoriented and beyond their ability to care for him. "Because my dad was sick and we didn't want to keep him in the house.  He needed health-care.  He needed someone to help him like doctors, nurses and therapist," said daughter Julie Saintil.

There is no excuse for a nursing home's failure to keep residents who are prone to wandering from leaving the premises of the facility.  Nursing homes that house people, such as Antoine, who are prone to wander or elope should have the following safeguards in place to ensure the safety of each resident:

• Door alarms
• Window locks
• Door locks
• Bracelets that track each resident's location
• Adequate staff to look after residents
• Have contingent plans to locate residents who may wander from the facility

There is no obligation on the part of nursing homes to house every person who seeks out the facility's services.  However, when the nursing home agrees to house a resident who is disoriented or has dementia, the nursing home is implicitly agreeing they are able to properly care for the individual and is responsible for providing proper care.  Read more about this wrongful death lawsuit at this Florida Nursing Home here.