SPRINGFIELD, Tenn. (WTVF) — In the state of Tennessee, if a nursing home wants to discharge you against your wishes, there are certain rules that must be followed. But a facility in Robertson County did not appear to follow those rules and that left a former patient on the side of a busy road in Springfield for more than a day.
Allicia Elliott described to NewsChannel 5 Investigates when she spotted Johnny Ensley.
"It was probably about 11:30 yesterday morning. He was sitting down here right on the side of the highway," she recalled.
Elliott continued, "And I went about my business and come back through this morning and he was still in the exact same spot."
Ensley was in his wheelchair, surrounded by everything he owns stuffed in trash bags, sitting out in the heat along Memorial Boulevard in Springfield.
"I was staying at the Waters of Springfield," he told us.
He'd been a patient at the Waters of Springfield nursing home when about a week ago, they insisted that he go to the hospital for a psych evaluation.
Ensley said it didn't take long and when it was done, the doctor told him the nursing home refused to take him back.
"Were you expecting you were going to go back?" we asked Ensley.
"Well, I should have been. I mean, I passed the test. I hadn't done anything wrong. Why couldn't I go back? That's where all my belongings were at," he explained.
Ensley said he didn't have anywhere else to go except a nearby hotel where the nursing home delivered all of his belongings and a wheelchair.
He stayed until he ran out of money and ended up on the sidewalk in front of the hotel Tuesday morning which turned into Tuesday night and then Wednesday morning.
Gina Osborne wondered, "How can you just tell someone they can't come back when they have nowhere to go?"
Osborne and Elliott are just a few of the people who brought Ensley food and water and who couldn't believe that a man who had been in a nursing home ended up on the side of the road in the heat.
"Why would you decide now that you couldn't meet his needs and just toss him out the door? If he had mental issues there's places to help with that. Sometimes we all need a little help to get to that help. And they left him sitting out there like he didn't matter to anybody," Elliott said.
We are happy to share that Johnny Ensley is no longer on the curb in the hot sun.
The good Samaritans saw to that. They found and paid for a hotel room for him and contacted the state to get him the help he needs, something they say the nursing home should have done themselves.
"Because I feel like they could have done better," Osborne suggested.
The good Samaritans said the state told them it would take a day or two to come up with at least a temporary solution.
As for the nursing home, the Waters of Springfield did not return our calls.
