A 74-year-old man who was missing for nearly a week after walking away from a Detroit hospital has been found alive.
His family said he is bad shape, but they're thankful the outcome wasn't worse.
Bobby Brown was receiving dialysis treatment at a Detroit clinic last Wednesday like he does three times a week.
His daughter, Lakeysia Brooks said for the last three years, he has dealt with confusion at times that seem to be linked to his need of for treatment.
"When he's going through dialysis, he shows signs of confusion. He's not himself,” said Brooks.
At his last appointment, Brown became confused. He drove himself, but kept asking nurses where his ride was. The nurses called his emergency contact, his girlfriend, Valerie Hutchinson.
Hutchinson said when she arrived, the clinicians decided to call an ambulance for Brown to get him to the hospital.
She followed the ambulance to Sinai-Grace, but eventually needed to leave to take care of her child.
Hutchinson said a short time later, he called her and said he wanted to leave the hospital. She tells 7 Action News she told him to stay, and called his daughter to talk with him.
Hutchinson says she didn't hear anything further until she tried to go see him at the hospital the next day and he was gone.
“At the end of the day, I felt like he would be safe with them, you know? I felt like he was in good hands,” said Hutchinson.
She said no one ever called from Sinai-Grace to let her know Brown was leaving.
He had no car, no one to pick him up, and his family said the reason he was there in the first place was his confusion. Hutchinson said a nurse should have called.
"She could have called and said Mr. Brown is leaving and we can't stop him, never got a call like that,” said Hutchinson.
Brooks said Sinai-Grace nurses should have been more concerned about someone in his condition leaving, whether they were allowed to stop him or not.
"I definitely want someone to be held accountable for this so it won't happen to anyone else, because this hurts, to not know where your loved one is,” said Brooks.
Sinai Grace released this statement:
HIPAA patient privacy protection laws prohibit us from speaking with the media concerning the specifics of this situation. We can say that hospital protocol was followed and the patient left Sinai-Grace against medical advice.
