Ruby Andersen, 75, was found dead on Wednesday in the stairwell of a power plant 11 days after she went missing from a San Francisco care facility across the street
An elderly woman with dementia was found dead in the stairwell of a power plant 11 days after she went missing from a San Francisco care facility across the street.
Ruby Andersen, 75, had been living at the city-run care facility associated with Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital when she checked herself out on May 19 to visit her family.
Staff members at the Behavioral Health Center called police and reported Andersen missing the following day when she failed to return.
San Francisco Sheriff Deputies said they looked for Andersen in the hospital, jails and the morgue on May 20 and contacted her family.
Sheriff Vicki Hennessy said once they heard from relatives on May 22, the department put out a missing-person flyer for Andersen.
Andersen’s body was found Wednesday in a stairwell of a power plant across the street from the main hospital campus.
The woman’s outrage daughter, Charlene Roberts, told San Francisco news station KRON-TV on Wednesday that her mother had dementia and two hearing aids.
‘It is just not right,’ Roberts said.
Andersen’s body was found Wednesday in a stairwell of a power plant (pictured above) across the street from the main hospital campus
‘I don’t know how she died. Did she have a stroke or fell? I don’t know what happened.’
Officials said an autopsy would be conducted on Thursday but they could not discuss her health condition because of privacy laws.
The 50-resident care facility serves people with mental conditions who are 60 and older and need non-medical support, including ensuring they take their medications and eat properly.
San Francisco Sheriff Vicki Hennessy said deputies check every ‘nook and cranny’ if a hospital patient is reported missing but there is no protocol for the same situation at the Behavioral Health Center.
Hennessy’s agency is responsible for security at both facilities.
‘We’re going to be reviewing everything to see where the holes are because it looks like we need to do better,’ she said.
The power plant is usually locked and only accessible to maintenance workers but the buildings had recently been left open from 6am to 6pm because personnel and vendors were regularly entering.
San Francisco Sheriff Vicki Hennessy said deputies check every ‘nook and cranny’ if a hospital patient is reported missing but there is no protocol for the same situation at the Behavioral Health Center
Roland Pickens, director of the Department of Public Health’s San Francisco Health Network, would not explain why the building were left open.
‘As of yesterday, that security badge access requirement was reactivated,’ Pickens said on Thursday.
Andersen’s case is similar to an incident five years ago when Lynne Spalding, a missing patient from the hospital, was found dead in a stairwell more than two weeks after she disappeared from her room.
It prompted authorities to overhaul security and implement thorough searches for missing patients.
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department paid the woman’s family $3 million to settle a legal claim.
An autopsy determined that 57-year-old Spalding had been dead for several days before her body was found in a stairwell that was supposed to be routinely checked by security.