PHOENIX — 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.
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ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman reported on the elopement death of Bob Pollmann in September.
The 85-year-old was a retired agriculture teacher from South Dakota, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2021.
The ABC15 Investigators also reported on the elopement death of Miguel Moreno, who wandered away from his memory care unit in Tucson.
Some of those residents end up on the news when Silver Alerts are issued. Others don’t get any media attention. Retired mechanic Marion Apolinar was discovered unconscious outside his Phoenix care home last summer. A medical examiner’s report said the 82-year-old’s body temperature was 10 degrees higher than normal when he was found. He died a few days later.
Lawyers who represent families in these types of deaths have told ABC15 that one of the reasons we're not hearing about elopements is because there's not a uniform reporting mechanism.
Mayes said she is aware of these two cases because of our reporting.
“In order to truly tackle this issue, we have to track the issue,” she said. “What I think needs to happen is we need legislation -- hopefully this year this coming legislative session -- to require nursing homes and long-term care facilities to track elopements.”
Mayes would want the care facilities to report to the Arizona Department of Health Services and the attorney general’s office. Mayes said she is in talks with lawmakers to begin the process.
When it comes to elopement cases, the public rarely hears about them.
Mayes said she wants families and loved ones to know they can report elopements to the attorney general’s office, “If long-term care facilities and nursing homes are trying to keep it secret, that is not going to work, because we're not going to allow it.”
The attorney general is referencing how facilities will sometimes have families sign non-disclosure agreements and arbitration agreements, something her office has also been fighting. These so-called “secrecy clauses” are designed to keep allegations of abuse or neglect confidential.
“That's not okay,” said Mayes, “We need transparency.”
