Followup on News Stories regarding Deadly Falls in Nursing Homes

As an attorney who practices in the area of elder abuse and neglect primarily in nursing homes and other types of elder care facilities, I have handled numerous cases where falls have lead to serious permanent injury or frequently in the death of the resident. Unlike many types of accidents, falls are often preventable with adequate and trained staff providing proper care and monitoring. Even if the actual fall event is an accident many facilities fail to take the necessary required steps to protect the interests of the vulnerable adult, by not adequately responding to the fall event.

After a fall the individual needs to be closely monitored and assessed by qualified nursing or home staff. Often the nursing home does not insure that the resident is assessed by a RN or medical doctor, rather they rely on the LPN and nursing assistant staff to look for changes in the condition of the resident that could signal a problem related to the fall, the most common of which is a subdural hematoma, leading to brain swelling, and often death.

Frequently falls result in the breaking of a bone, many times at the level of a joint such as in the hip or knee. The injury may result in the resident becoming bedridden or confined to a wheelchair for rehabilitative care. The loss in ambulation can then lead to many other risk factors such as bed sores from the pressure of laying on the same area for extended periods of time, and loss of muscle strength, leading to additional falls. Fall injuries can also lead to death months after the incident from complications such as pneumonia.

Avoiding falls is very important and should be one of the primary focuses in the nursing home. To protect the residents the nursing home should be frequently monitoring the resident to determine the risks for falling and taking interventions to reduce the change of a fall incident. The effectiveness of the interventions should be evaluated to ensure the effectiveness of safety interventions and if they need to be modified.  This is especially important if there is any sudden change in a resident’s ability to function physically and changes with the cognitive or behavior status of the resident. These changes could be due to an underlying medical condition which needs to be addressed, or problems with medication or numerous other issues. Assessments needed to be performed by a qualified RN nurse, not lower level nursing staff, who should instead be making observations, and reporting their finding to those qualified to enact appropriate safety measures.

The Star and Tribune ran a three piece article on Deadly Falls this week which I was asked to provide input on. It addresses these issues and others in great detail.  Click here to review

This website is not intended to provide legal advice as each situation is different and specific factual information must be obtained before an attorney is able to assess the legal questions relevant to your situation.

If you or a loved one has suffered an injury or abuse in a nursing home or other care facility that serves the elderly in Minnesota please contact our firm for a free consultation and information regarding the obligations of the facility and your rights as a resident or concerned family member. To contact Attorney Kenneth L. LaBore, directly please send an email to klabore@prslegal.com, or call Ken at 612-767-7503.