In a recent Hartford County, Maryland nursing home lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed the increase of fall-related injuries across the country, and the importance of developing fall prevention and awareness to protect residents and patients in nursing homes and hospitals.
In a related hospital fall lawsuit, a stroke victim, who was reportedly deemed high-risk for falling when admitted, fell from her bed, and suffered severe fall-related injuries including a broken nose, fractured teeth and black eyes. She reportedly died the following day.
According to the lawsuit, the 76-year old checked into the NCH Naples Hospital emergency room, where she had a stroke in March 2009. Bernadine Minarcin was reportedly found to be at high-risk for falling, so the nurses raised two bed rails and implemented a bed alarm.
Hours later, Minarcin was found on the floor, in a pool of blood—and no alarm had gone off. Minarcin’s husband claims that the nurses were negligent, and breached a standard of care, by failing to keep his wife, a stroke victim, safe in her bed. Minarcin claims that the nurses should have put up three bed rails, which is the required standard of care and would have kept his wife in her bed.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 3 seniors over the age of 65 suffer from falls every year, many of which happen in hospitals and nursing homes—with falls being the leading cause of injury-related death in their age range.
In Maryland or the Washington D.C. area, contact our nursing home attorneys Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation.
NCH bed-fall lawsuit alleges nurses were negligent, Naples News.com, May 17, 2011
Related Web Resources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC)
Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, DHMH
Related Blog Posts:
Nursing Home Fall Awareness and Prevention, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, May 6, 2011
Reducing Nursing Home and Hospital Falls to Prevent Patient Injury, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, December 7, 2010