Since 2018, at least 98 seniors with cognitive issues died after walking away from an assisted-living facility or being left outside unattended, an investigation by The Washington Post has found. Here is a list of those deaths, organized by state, along with the names of the facilities where they occurred.
While The Post went to great lengths to compile a complete listing — reporters scoured state inspection reports, police records, lawsuits, obituaries and local media reports across the nation — this is certainly an undercount. Ten states did not provide any records and do not make inspection or incident reports available online. In some of those states, The Post found media reports of deaths and was able to verify them.
Most facilities either did not respond or declined to comment; for those that did respond, their comments are included below. Some of the facilities have been sold, changed names or closed since the deaths occurred.
State inspection reports do not name residents involved in such incidents and The Post was unable to confirm the identity of the dead in every case.
