Wife of mental health patient says a nurse left him unsupervised, allowing him to leave

WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- Carolyn Zaballa had no idea where her husband Jose could be. "He's a dear, sweet, demented man."

Her dear, sweet husband suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, dementia and diabetes.

She says he was taken to Columbia Hospital in West Palm Beach because his blood sugar was low and his blood pressure was high, plus he was combative as well as disoriented.

"He was very confused, he was rambling," Carolyn says.

Clearly in no state to be left alone, but Carolyn says that's just what happened during his examination, while she was asked to wait in the waiting room.

She says a nurse walked off to care for a trauma patient, leaving Jose unsupervised.

"Just long enough for him to get up and pull out his IV and get his clothes and manage to sneak out," Carolyn says.

She adds that the surveillance cameras in the ER were not working and the very apologetic nurse had to admit that Jose had vanished.

Carolyn recalls, "When she called me in to tell me he was missing and she couldn't find him she was tearful.

So, the all day search began and seven hours later, it ended with Carolyn getting a phone call during an interview with a reporter.

"They found him, oh praise the Lord," she shouted.

He was found at a Chinese restaurant just across the street from Columbia Hospital.

Carolyn says it is frustrating that a hospital could let this happen but, a nurse herself, she is forgiving.

"We all make mistakes and this was a mistake but I think hopefully we've all learned something from it," she explains.

Despite the pain that mistake put her through, she trusts Columbia Hospital to care for her husband once again, walking in arm-in-arm, certain to never leave his side again.

Calls to Columbia Hospital were not returned.

Jose Zaballa is now in the mental health unit but he's doing ok.