A broken bed alarm is being blamed in the death of a patient who became disoriented and left his hospital room at UCSD Medical Center, according to an article on the NBC San Diego website.
An investigation revealed a broken alarm systems that was known to be inoperable but wasn't repaired, the article said.
The body of 57-year-old Thomas Vera was found five days after he wandered away from the hospital less than a mile from the facility in Palm Canyon.
According to a California Department of Health and Human Services probe, Vera’s bed alarm never sounded. Vera was under video surveillance, and when nurses were notified, the report states they “attempted to contact security by paging security twice with no response and then pushing the panic button twice with no response.”
The panic button was broken for 8 days, according to the report.
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