$1,500,000 verdict for resident fall
New York Nurse Home Abuse Lawyer Blog recent reported on a $1,500,000 verdict for a nursing home resident fall.
In July 2004, an Erie County jury awarded plaintiffs, Thomas S. Kolbert and the Estate of Victoria Poielski, $1,500,000 in damages in a lawsuit brought under the New York Public Health Law for nursing home negligence. The plaintiffs alleged that Ms. Poielski, an 80 year-old resident suffering from dementia, fell while unattended in her bathroom and suffered a fractured right elbow.
Apparently, the resident was left alone on the toilet for a three hour period. When no staff member came to her assistance, she tried to move from the toilet to her wheelchair and suffered a fall. Pressure sores (bedsores, decubiti) also developed on her heels after the fall.
While the verdict itself is not surprising, I still find that the post offers something important to talk about -- Nursing homes focusing on profits to such an extent that it places the residents of their homes in real danger.
In most businesses, when you want to cut down on overhead, one of the things you look towards is cutting staff. I can't tell you how many companies I've worked for where, as soon as you feel some financial tension, line level workers are cut, units consolidated, and so on and so forth.
But when you are talking about helping the elderly, the sick, those who can't care for themselves, cutting staff (or not hiring enough staff) placed people at peril. This poor woman was sitting on the toilet for THREE HOURS waiting for someone to help her back to her bed. It was either stay there and wonder if someone would ever come to help her, or try to make her way back. Though unsteady, she attempted it, resulting in her fall.
Unfortunately, I have seen story on top of story of residents using their call lights and having to wait hours for assistance. Often it involves going to or coming from the bathroom, a basic human need. The failure to respond often results in falls, fractures, or soiling themselves. Those things can further lead to infections and decubitis ulcers (pressure sore wounds). Its sad to say that with just a few more staff, most nursing homes would be able to adequately respond to those lights and a plethora of injuries could be avoided.
