An outraged family wants to know why a Florida rehabilitation center told them their missing father had checked himself out just days before his body was found rotting in a closet.
Elin Etienne, 71, spent only eight days at the North Dade Nursing and Rehabilitation Center before he disappeared.
However, the staff refused to show the discharge form to his stunned family. They had spent a week scouring the city for the former chef, until an anonymous staff member called them on Monday to say he had been found dead at the scene.
“We still have to find out if he was put in the closet,” said niece Rivly Breus.
“We just don’t know and I don’t want this to happen to another patient.”
The body of Elin Etienne, 71, was found in a storage room at the North Dade Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Florida eight days after his family was told he had turned himself in
They watched in horror as the body of the ‘loving, selfless’ family man was wheeled away
The “loving, selfless” family man suffered from dementia and was admitted to hospital on August 14 for a 12-week stay after suffering two strokes that left him unable to walk.
Six days later his family saw him for the last time, when Breus brought him flowers, balloons and a new pair of shoes.
On August 22, the family learned that he had disappeared.
“We got a message from someone’s personal phone that we couldn’t find him,” cousin Kimberly Etienne told NBC.
‘So we called the nursing home and spoke to a nurse and she said he had let himself go.
‘When they said he checked himself out, we begged them for the form to verify his signature. They refused.
“That’s why we called the police to make an official missing person report.”
North Miami police launched an investigation and posted a missing person report on Facebook. At the same time, the family began distributing flyers in an attempt to locate the man.
But on Monday morning, they returned to the rehabilitation center after receiving a second devastating call from an anonymous staff member.
Etienne’s nieces Rivly Breus, left, and Kimberly Etienne, right, say the rehabilitation center refused to show their uncle’s signature on the supposed discharge form
The center on North Dade’s North East 135th Street has insisted it will cooperate with researchers
“They said they found him in a closet and he was already decomposing, and they refused to let us see the body,” said granddaughter Ruth Keisha Etienne.
‘And we tried to talk to the people at the nursing home, but they refused to talk to us.
“They don’t want to talk to us. I wonder why?”
The distraught family watched as his body was wheeled into a coroner’s van and more than a dozen relatives gathered at a protest Monday night to demand answers.
They fear he lay dying in the closet for days, without food, water or medicine, before he was finally found.
“That is terrible, because it means he died alone and suffering,” Breus said.
“The whole family is here, but there are no answers,” Kimberly added.
North Miami police have launched an investigation as the family tries to figure out how Etienne was able to disappear under the noses of nursing home staff.
“We just got a call that he was missing, and we were like, OK?” his granddaughter said.
‘We went there and talked to them. We just wanted to get to the heart of the matter.
“They told us he signed an AMA, which means he refused medical attention. We asked to see the documents and wanted to see his signature, but they refused to show it to us.”
“They kept saying he had unsubscribed and that he didn’t want anything to do with his family,” Breus added.
‘That’s not possible because he has dementia.’
The rehabilitation center released a statement Tuesday saying it would cooperate with any investigation by police or state regulators.
“Our thoughts and condolences go out to the families affected by this devastating event,” the magazine said.
More than a dozen family members protested outside the center on Monday night, demanding to know how beloved Elin could die
Etienne, who came to the U.S. from Haiti 30 years ago, was remembered by his family as a hardworking and caring man who always put them first
Granddaughter Ruth Keisha Etienne said the center refused to let the family see her grandfather’s body
Etienne, who came to the U.S. from Haiti 30 years ago, was remembered by his family as a hardworking and caring man who always put them first.
“There was no such thing as him coming by and not brightening up the room with a joke, with laughter, with humor,” Kimberly said.
They now fear his body is too decomposed to be buried next to his mother on the Caribbean island.
“It’s like a movie, a horrible horror movie,” Kimberly said. “Now we have to seek justice because we can’t even give him a proper burial.
“He was just an honest person, and this is not the way we wanted to send him off.”
