Arizona’s attorney general says new legislation is needed to track when vulnerable seniors wander away from care facilities.
The ABC15 Investigators have been reporting on what are called “elopements” for months. The long-term care industry refers to these unsupervised wandering that leads to residents leaving facilities as “elopements.” The exact number that occurs is unknown though because no Arizona state agency tracks them.
“We don’t even know how big this problem is because the state of Arizona doesn’t track it,” said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes in an exclusive interview with ABC15
“How do you solve a problem if you don’t even know how big the problem is?” she went on to say.
The ABC15 Investigators poured through hundreds of pages of police reports, medical examiner reports and state health department records. ABC15 found at least a dozen cases of people who left their long-term care facilities or were left unsupervised outside and were all found dead in the heat.
Mayes said that the attorney general’s office is investigating five cases of elopements, but she could not share any details as these are open investigations.