The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A FAMILY has accused the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) of negligence after their elderly father, a dementia patient, went missing after being admitted on Saturday, with relatives saying they were not informed of his disappearance until the following day.

Felix Beneby, 72, was admitted on Saturday morning after experiencing hernia pain that began last week and refusing to eat.

According to relatives, he went missing hours after being admitted to hospital but was later found Sunday afternoon at his sister’s home on Malcolm Road, about 3.4 miles from the hospital, roughly an hour’s walk away.

His son, Solomon Beneby, said the family only learned of the incident the next morning and alleged that serious lapses in protocol occurred.

“Emotional and physchological trauma currently being experienced but my family cannot be expressed in words,” he said. “To walk at night from PMH to Malcolm Road with a hernia pending surgery scheduled for Monday, I cannot even begin to imagine the pain of each step on that uneven path.”

Mr Beneby said the family had called an ambulance shortly after 10pm on Friday, but it did not arrive until after 2am Saturday. He said doctors decided to admit his father and indicated surgery would be performed.

Believing his father was receiving care, he returned the following morning with food, only to discover he had gone missing.

“I went there to bring him some some fish soup, and that's when I found out, but I found owut that the surgical team discovered it last night when they were looking for him, so my thing is, they should’ve called me last night,” he said.

He added that the family was especially concerned for his safety given his medical condition, noting that if a stabilising device failed, it could have led to severe bleeding.

The family is now seeking answers about how Mr Beneby could leave the facility unnoticed and why they were not notified immediately.

Officials from the Public Hospitals Authority did not respond to calls seeking comment up to press time yesterday. This is the latest incident to place PMH under renewed scrutiny over patient care.