The family of an elderly man with dementia is suing a retirement home after the 70 year old was found dead in the Arizona desert.
The final days of Miguel Moreno began on July 31, 2023, as he was moved into Tucson’s Park Senior Villas at La Canada, according to KNXV-TV.
Moreno’s daughters chose the facility because it offered high-level care for their father’s dementia.
On Aug. 2, just two days after Moreno moved into the care home, he was able to wander away from the grounds.
The family’s lawsuit claimed Moreno was able to overcome a drop bolt on the facility gate and left the grounds. His family was called at the time, and a staff member followed Moreno and brought him back into the care home.
Days later, on Aug. 5, Moreno was able to slip out of the facility again.
With no staff members noticing him slip out of the gate, he was truly missing.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office was called in after Moreno’s disappearance, and the search was joined by the missing man’s daughters and other families.
Temperatures that day reached 109 degrees Fahrenheit, initially causing concern that a search helicopter could be prevented from taking off.
Should this retirement home face more severe penalties?
A devastating discovery was then made just 250 yards from the retirement home.
Moreno’s body was found by a deputy in the desert environment.
“Air support is who found him, in a wash, not under a bush, not under any shade, just where he gave out,” Mina Hernandez, one of Moreno’s daughters, told KNXV-TV.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office found that a landscaping crew’s oversight allowed the escape to happen.
“It was determined that landscapers had left a gate propped open in the yard area, which was the most likely avenue that Mr. Moreno left in,” the PCSO said.
The facility was fined $500 after the Arizona Department of Health Services found the facility’s management failed to secure the premises.
It was determined the open gate presented a condition that threatened the health and safety of the retirement home’s vulnerable residents.
One factor that made the situation unusual was the fact that the landscaping crew was working on Saturday when the gate was apparently left open. The crew was scheduled to work Wednesdays and should not have been on the property during the weekend.
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