Missing Detroit Man Dies in Hospital, Family Told He Was Discharged

Imagine you have a family member that suffers from dementia and is hospitalized. When you call the hospital to check on him like you regularly do, you're told he was discharged two days earlier. More than likely you would freak out.

That is exactly what happened to a metro Detroit family this past weekend.

75-year-old Melvin Field who suffers from dementia was taken to Sinai Grace Hospital in Detroit back in January after he contracted COVID-19.

The family called to check on him over the weekend and they were told he had been discharged on Friday. Are you kidding me?

Field's daughter Renee Prevost:

There’s no telling if he’s got frostbite or hypothermia or if he’s even alive wherever he is. He should have never been released without being released to someone or back to the nursing home.

The family freaked out and spent the weekend frantically searching all over Detroit for their loved one. They had no idea where he was. Unfortunately, they never found him.

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Here's where the story takes a bizarre and heartbreaking twist.

According to WXYZ, on Monday afternoon, the family says they received another call from the hospital saying Field was actually not released Friday, and instead had died in the hospital on Friday.

I said, 'Wait, what?!' We’ve been looking through the streets of Detroit for him. We’ve been searching in the cold thinking he was, you know, out on his own.

Someone at the hospital screwed up big time.

The hospital released a statement in regard to the situation:

Mr. Field passed away at Sinai-Grace Hospital on February 4 and our staff made numerous attempts to reach out to the family but were unsuccessful. We have since been in communication with the family and offer our deepest sympathies for their loss.

The family says that they went back to the hospital multiple times asking the staff for help on the man's whereabouts.

For three days they searched and searched only time find out he'd been dead the entire time.

I'm sure the whole thing was a big mistake but come on, it's totally unacceptable.