Maura Reynolds not the first to go missing from care facilities

Maura Reynolds is not the first elderly person to go missing from care facilities. Many end with tragic consequences, as recent experience shows.

In May 2004, 80-year-old Mary Grace died in hospital from pneumonia after being found lying in undergrowth suffering severe hypothermia and dehydration two days after she went missing from Belmont House, Stillorgan, Co Dublin. Her inquest heard she had dementia and had left the nursing home through a door which was normally locked but was opened to let air in.

Sean Hayes, 71, a resident of Rostrevor Nursing Home in Rathgar, Dublin, died in hospital in December 2002 from complications after suffering injuries when he fell from a second-floor window of the home six weeks earlier.

A 61-year-old patient at Tullamore General Hospital who was reported missing at 9pm in February 2003 was found in the early hours of the following morning collapsed in the theatre department. He had fallen near hot pipes and was suffering severe burns from which he died three days later.

In 2000, an 81-year-old patient at James Connolly Memorial Hospital, Dublin was reported missing from his bed on a Friday night and was discovered dead on Monday evening. Georgie Wells, who was being treated for pneumonia, had wandered from his open ward in his pyjamas and ended up in a disused tunnel beneath the hospital building.