Daughter says elderly dad was left outside in cold rain for hours ‘like he was trash’

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte family is furious after they said their 78-year-old father was released from a rehabilitation center and left out in the rain for hours.

Maxine Rozzelle received a call from Charlotte Health and Rehabilitation Center on Thursday, saying there was an issue with her father’s insurance and he had to leave immediately.

"She had told me there would be someone to pick him up in 25 minutes. I said: ‘I cannot be there in 25 minutes. you have to give me more time than that.' She said, 'I’ll see what I can do,’” said Rozzelle.

Rozzelle explains the facility got a transportation service to bring him home. When Rozzelle got to her father’s house, she said she found her father outside in the rain in his wheelchair on the driveway with no shoes or coat. Since her father can’t walk without assistance, he had no way to get up the steps into his home.

"They pretty much threw him out like he was trash,” she said. "They sent him out in the wheelchair, no shoes on, pajama pants and a shirt.”

Channel 9 spoke with the driver for the transportation company.

He said he waited with the man for his family for over an hour. He said the man asked to be let out of the car when a neighbor came to get him.

Channel 9 also reached out to the facility and received the following statement:

“We can say that when an insurance company denies further nursing facility benefits and transportation home needs to be arranged, we contact the transportation company authorized by the insurer and arrange a safe transport. We ensure that patients are safe, stable, and all needs provided for when they leave our facility."

However, Rozzelle doesn’t feel like her father was stable or safe.

"It takes two people to get him out of his wheelchair,” she said. “I’m still overwhelmed because I cannot believe it. He’s 78 years old.”

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