Prominent attorney alarmed after man's decomposing body found in nursing home closet
NORTH MIAMI - A prominent South Florida attorney tells CBS News Miami that he is alarmed after family members say the decomposing body of a 71-year-old man with dementia is found inside a closet at a nursing home.
Loved ones say Elin Etienne was reported missing from the North Dade Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on August 22nd and they say his body was discovered on September 2nd, this past Monday.
Attorney Bill Dean said, "The bottom line is where was the staff and where was the administration? Was the facility so horribly understaffed? Why did this happen and how did this happen? This should not have happened in the 21st century."
"Where was the administrator? Where was the director of nursing? Where was the assistant director of nursing? Where was the charge nurse?
Etienne's niece, Rivly Breus, who has been searching for answers told CBS News Miami, "I am not surprised because most healthcare facilities are understaffed. I am concerned because he was in a closet for 12 days and that was excessive. There should have been checks every day. It is especially important for people who are impaired cognitively or mentally." "I am also concerned because we heard from someone who wanted to remain anonymous that my uncle was missing and the nursing center did not tell us right away when he went missing on August 22nd," she said.
"We had to find out from someone else."
That concerns Dean.
"As soon as someone goes missing in a home, you need to call the family. You need to search. Every second and minute that goes by it becomes more dangerous for the residents and the further they get away from the home, the more likely they are to fall in a lake or fall in a canal or drown or being run over by an 18-wheeler. The minute someone goes missing the bells should go off and you need to find that person. That didn't happen in this case and there was a breakdown in the system," he said.
Dean says his law firm has sued the center more than a dozen times.
"We have sued them because of falls, broken hips and bed sores and infections and sepsis and wrongful deaths, and unexplained deaths," he said.
He said the lawsuits were settled out of court for undisclosed sums.
He said if you have a loved one in a nursing home, you need to monitor what is happening with them every day.
CBS News Miami has reached out to the Agency for Health Care Administration that oversees such facilities and received a statement on Thursday afternoon.
The statement said, "The agency is committed to ensuring the health and safety of all residents and patients in the facilities we regulate. Because of patient privacy laws, we can not comment on a specific case involving a patient."
"They will conduct an investigation, but it will be days late and a dollar short," said Dean.
Stephanie Pena, the administrator of the nursing center at N.E. 135th St. and 12th Ave., released a statement on Tuesday night, saying in part, "We are deeply committed to the health, well-being and safety of our residents…our team is cooperating with the appropriate authorities."
CBS News Miami reached out to Pena again on Thursday, but an employee at the nursing center said she was not available.
On Thursday, North Miami Police said they were still waiting for the report from the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's office to confirm the identity.
Breus said the medical examiner would have to check her uncle's dental records and she said family members may not know the results of that until late next week.