Son demands answers after father with dementia released from Jesup nursing home, found in North Carolina

JESUP, Ga. (WTOC) - An 82-year-old Glynn County man with dementia was found two states away in North Carolina after his nursing home released him to distant relatives without his medical power of attorney’s consent, according to his son.

James Elledge was supposed to be in the care of a Harborview Health Systems facility in Jesup, Georgia. Instead, he was located Thursday morning by the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina and taken to a local hospital for evaluation.

“I can confirm that deputies with the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office located an individual during the early morning hours of Thursday, November 5, 2026, at approximately 4:00 a.m. The individual had traveled from a facility in Georgia and was subsequently transported to a local hospital for evaluation.”  

Dane Hoyle

His son, David Elledge, who holds medical power of attorney for his father, said he is demanding answers about how the facility allowed a vulnerable resident to walk out the door.

“So they just opened the door and let a dementia patient just go free,” David Elledge said.

David Elledge said his father suffers from severe memory loss, takes daily medications, uses a walker, and is designated as a high fall risk.

Elledge said his father called him and said someone wanted to take him from the facility. James told his father he did not want to go.

David said after the phone call, he sent a formal letter to the nursing home instructing staff not to release his father, warning that it would not be a safe discharge.

“Five hours later, my father was released to distant relatives that he hasn’t seen in over 30 years,” he said.

When David Elledge called the facility to check on his father, hours later, staff informed him his father had been discharged. He said facility administrators claimed the elder Elledge walked out and entered a vehicle, but no one notified him before or immediately after the release.

“I don’t know how this is possible because dad is a fall risk and he has a walker,” David Elledge said. “I can only imagine how he feels after, you know, being drugged from a facility, something that he knows that to be safe every single day, to a whole different state.”

After staff failed to provide details on his father’s whereabouts, David Elledge contacted local law enforcement.

Jesup’s police chief confirmed his department’s involvement and said authorities have contacted Adult Protective Services regarding the incident.

“Even in one of their progress reports they stated that dads was forgetfulness and he would forget things, and so to allow him to walk out of that facility was completely negligent on their part,” said Elledge.

David Elledge said the nursing home has since stopped taking his calls.

Repeated emails and a call from WTOC to Harborview Health Systems seeking comment were not returned, and a representative hung up the phone after WTOC introduced themselves.