I remember the not-so-distant past when my four-year-old son was in his door playing mode. Doors would slam, hardware would break, but my wife and I were grateful as long as he stayed inside.  

Obviously, anyone seeing a toddler running around unchaperoned would (hopefully) call the police and advise them that his parents should be evaluated to see if they are in sound mind to care for their child!

Much like a child, elderly nursing home patients-- with conditions such as Alzheimer's and dementia-- face the same risks when they leave the safety of their facility and enter a world of unknown risks and dangers.  

Yet for some reason, facilities fail to employ the same standards when caring for these exceptionally vulnerable people.  

Another example of a skilled nursing facility failing to look after a patient comes out of Texas, where a patient was found dead hours after leaving the safety of his nursing home.

FOX 34 is reporting that, 71-year-old Willie Byers was found dead just four hours after walking away from Tumbleweed Care Center on February 3rd.  The morning Mr. Byers left the facility was during one of the coldest stretches in the area's history.  No surprise his death was due to hypothermia.

Currently this incident is still under investigation and no formal charges have been brought against the facility.  I hope that the investigation confirms the obvious-- that this facility was not doing an adequate job looking after its patients.

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