AN ELDERLY woman who had been missing for months has been found dumped in a wheelchair on a dirt road in Mexico – 200 miles away from her home.
Nilda Perales Ramos, believed to be in her 90s, appeared to be heavily sedated and was showing signs of hypothermia when she was discovered.
Emergency services received an anonymous tip about someone who appeared unconscious beside a rural track in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on 17 December.
Paramedics from the Mexican Red Cross found the woman slumped in a wheelchair without shelter, fully exposed to rain and plummeting temperatures.
The gruelling conditions and suspected sedation left the woman showing signs of hypothermia and severe dehydration.
She was given emergency treatment at the scene before being transferred to the General Hospital of Matamoros Dr Alfredo Pumarejo, where she remains under medical observation.
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Hospital director Gerardo Garcia Salinas said she woke up and was lucid enough to remember her name.
She identified herself as Nilda Perales Ramos, originally from Laredo, in the US state of Texas and told investigators she does not have close family.
It later emerged that friends and relatives in Laredo have been searching for her for five months.
Nilda, who is about 90 years old, had reportedly crossed into Mexico on 12 June and was later hospitalised.
While she was in hospital her friends and relatives lost contact.
Authorities are now probing whether she had a caregiver and how she came to be alone on the street.
Initial reports, according to testimonies gathered by Quadratín, indicate that Nilda was drugged.
The substance given to her remains unknown.
Meanwhile, the elderly woman will stay under supervision to stabilize her as efforts are made to establish contact with her relatives.
Officials say that once she is discharged from medical care, she will be placed in a nursing facility.
The incident has sparked fierce discussion on social media about the quality and oversight of elder care in the border region.
Discussing the case on LinkedInone user wrote: “Abandoning an elderly, unconscious woman in the cold, on the side of a road, in a wheelchair, is pure cruelty!
“There is no excuse, no context that makes this acceptable!”
Another speculated: “I would ask what Hospital decided to dump her there when they found out she couldn’t afford to pay the bill.”
One outraged Facebook user posted: “Absolutely sickening. Boils my blood so much I can’t even explain it!!!
“How anyone could be so monstrous to leave an elderly and obviously extremely frail woman like that is evil.”