He would have had to suffered extreme injury or death, and even then, the lawsuit would be defended in the vein that the senior was fairly old and had not much quality or quantity of life left anyhow,.so there was not.much "loss" sustained. You could try to say you experienced extreme emotional distress, or were deprived of your familial rights, but you would have to prove that your distress or deprivation caused a "loss" of extreme proportions. Very unlikely. This is concerning that they misplaced your father's whereabouts, and you should report it to state hospital board, but other than that, get Real, there's no money to be made suing them. Enjoy your dad while he is still around and don't poison his memory with recriminations.
If they billed for any of the days he was missing or failed to notify you and the police properly or even get on the stick to look for him, at a minimum report them to the Office of Long Term Care or equivalent. If it was just a case of him being a lot more slick an escape artist than you or they had any reason to suspect, maybe let them off the hook if they did everything right to have him found as quickly as possible.
I do think it is hard enough to place a parent in a facility, and you'd expect them to be able to do what you would do for him and more such that you should not have to worry....
If he was there under rehab orders, the guidelines are probably going to be different as to what monitoring by facility.
Whether NH or rehab, If he's ambulatory, then he can choose to take a walk.NH aren't prisons. He'd probably need to be in a locked down dementia unit to keep him from taking a hike.
Timahy, the way I look at it, what if your Dad was living with a sibling and he had accidentally wandered away.... would you sue that sibling? That sibling had only one person to watch, not 20 or 30 elders.
But I can understand your feelings that here your Dad is paying the facility, or whomever is paying, and he was able to leave the facility. What it means is that the facility needs to tighten their controls and/or set up new systems. In the mean time, be glad your Dad was found and wasn't hurt.
A lawsuit could be years in the making and the outcome very little... the attorney fees would probably be more than the monetary value if you win the case.
I do think it is hard enough to place a parent in a facility, and you'd expect them to be able to do what you would do for him and more such that you should not have to worry....
Whether NH or rehab, If he's ambulatory, then he can choose to take a walk.NH aren't prisons. He'd probably need to be in a locked down dementia unit to keep him from taking a hike.
Suing would be a total waste of your $.
But I can understand your feelings that here your Dad is paying the facility, or whomever is paying, and he was able to leave the facility. What it means is that the facility needs to tighten their controls and/or set up new systems. In the mean time, be glad your Dad was found and wasn't hurt.
A lawsuit could be years in the making and the outcome very little... the attorney fees would probably be more than the monetary value if you win the case.