Can I Sue a Nursing Home If My Loved One Wandered Away and Got Injured?

The phone call every family dreads: your loved one wandered away from their nursing home and was found injured, confused, or worse.

It’s a moment that’s both terrifying and infuriating, because this is exactly what you trusted the facility to prevent.

If your loved one suffered harm after wandering away from a Tennessee nursing home, you’re probably asking yourself: Can I hold the facility accountable?

The short answer is yes, but only if the nursing home failed in its duty to keep your loved one safe.

Nursing Home Wandering Is Predictable and Preventable

Wandering is one of the most serious risks for nursing home residents, particularly those with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, or cognitive impairments.

When residents leave a facility unsupervised, they face dangers like:

• Traffic accidents
• Extreme weather exposure
• Falls and injuries
• Getting lost in unfamiliar areas
• Dehydration and medical emergencies

Here’s the problem: These incidents are almost always preventable.

Nursing homes have a legal obligation to identify residents at risk of wandering and implement appropriate safety measures. When they fail to do so, and a resident gets hurt, that’s negligence, and grounds for legal action.

What Tennessee Law Requires Nursing Homes to Do About Wandering

Tennessee nursing homes operate under strict regulations designed to protect vulnerable residents.

Under Tennessee Code § 71-6-103, facilities must provide adequate care and supervision to prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elderly residents. This includes taking reasonable steps to prevent wandering incidents.

Federal regulations also require nursing homes to:

• Conduct comprehensive assessments to identify residents at risk of wandering
• Create and implement individualized care plans addressing wandering risks
• Train staff to recognize and respond to wandering behaviors
• Install appropriate security measures like door alarms and monitoring systems
• Maintain adequate staffing levels to supervise at-risk residents

When a facility cuts corners on these requirements and a resident wanders away and gets injured, the nursing home can be held liable for damages.

4 Things You Must Prove to Sue for a Wandering Injury

Not every wandering incident automatically means you have a case. To successfully sue a nursing home, you’ll need to prove the facility was negligent.

This means showing four key elements:

1. The Nursing Home Owed Your Loved One a Duty of Care

Every Tennessee nursing home has a legal obligation to provide reasonable care and protect residents from foreseeable harm. If your loved one was a resident, this duty existed.

2. The Facility Breached That Duty

This is where most cases turn. Did the nursing home know (or should it have known) your loved one was at risk of wandering?

Common breaches include:

• Failing to properly assess a resident’s cognitive condition
• Not updating care plans when wandering behaviors developed
• Understaffing units with vulnerable residents
• Failing to secure exits or maintain functional door alarms
• Ignoring family warnings about wandering risks
• Not training staff on wandering prevention protocols

3. The Breach Directly Caused the Injury

You must connect the nursing home’s failure to the harm your loved one suffered.

If inadequate supervision allowed them to leave unnoticed, and they were subsequently injured, this causation element is met.

4. Your Loved One Suffered Actual Damages

This includes physical injuries, medical bills, pain and suffering, and in the most tragic cases, wrongful death.

Warning Signs the Nursing Home Was Negligent

Certain circumstances strongly suggest nursing home negligence in wandering cases.

Previous Wandering Attempts the Facility Ignored

If your loved one tried to leave before and staff didn’t adjust their care plan or increase supervision, that’s a major red flag.

One incident should trigger immediate action. Multiple incidents with no response? That’s clear negligence.

Staffing Shortages

Tennessee nursing homes frequently operate understaffed, making it impossible to properly supervise residents.

If you can show the facility didn’t have adequate staff on duty, that strengthens your case significantly. Look for patterns of short shifts, unfilled positions, or staff being responsible for too many residents.

Broken or Disabled Security Systems

Door alarms that don’t work or security cameras that aren’t monitored show the facility wasn’t taking reasonable precautions.

Maintenance records (or the lack thereof) can be powerful evidence in your case.

Missing Documentation

If the nursing home can’t produce records showing they assessed your loved one’s wandering risk or implemented appropriate interventions, that absence speaks volumes.

Facilities are required to document everything. When documentation mysteriously disappears, it usually means they have something to hide.

How Much Compensation Can You Get for a Nursing Home Wandering Case?

Families of wandering victims may be entitled to several types of damages:

1. Medical expenses for treating injuries sustained during the incident, including emergency care, hospitalization, surgery, and ongoing treatment
2. Pain and suffering your loved one experienced during and after the wandering incident
3. Emotional distress for both the resident and family members who lived through this traumatic event
4. Costs of transferring to a safer facility if appropriate care requires relocation to a different nursing home
5. Wrongful death damages if the wandering incident proved fatal, including funeral expenses and loss of companionship

In cases involving particularly egregious conduct, like ignoring repeated warnings or deliberately understaffing, you may also recover punitive damages designed to punish the facility and deter similar conduct.

You Only Have One Year to File a Lawsuit in Tennessee

Tennessee law imposes strict deadlines for filing nursing home negligence lawsuits.

Under Tennessee Code § 28-3-104, you typically have one year from the date of injury to file your claim. If your loved one passed away as a result of the incident, the clock starts from the date of death.

Don’t wait. Critical evidence like surveillance footage, staff schedules, and medical records can disappear quickly.

The sooner you act, the stronger your case will be.

What to Do Right Now If Your Loved One Wandered From a Nursing Home

If your loved one wandered from a Tennessee nursing home and suffered injuries, take these steps immediately:

1. Document everything. Take photos of injuries, keep all medical records, and write down exactly what happened and when you learned about it. Get names of staff members who were on duty.
2. Report the incident. File a complaint with the Tennessee Department of Health and contact Adult Protective Services at 1-888-277-8366. Federal law requires nursing homes to investigate, but you want outside agencies involved too.
3. Preserve evidence. Request copies of incident reports, your loved one’s care plan, staffing schedules, and security footage. Do this in writing and keep copies of your requests.
4. Don’t sign anything. Nursing homes may try to get you to sign incident reports or releases that limit your rights. Don’t sign any documents without consulting an attorney first.
5. Get legal help. The nursing home has lawyers protecting their interests. You need someone protecting yours.

The Higgins Firm Holds Negligent Nursing Homes Accountable

At The Higgins Firm, our dedicated nursing home abuse team has seen too many families devastated by preventable wandering incidents.

We know how these facilities operate, and we know how to hold them accountable.

We’ll conduct a thorough investigation, review medical records and facility documents, consult with medical experts, and build the strongest possible case for compensation.

And because we work on contingency, you pay nothing unless we win.

Your loved one deserved better. Let us fight to make sure the facility that failed them faces consequences.

Contact The Higgins Firm today for a free, confidential consultation. Call us or reach out online, we’re here to help.