Illinois Nursing Home Hid Fall of Resident

Posted on August 28, 2009 by Justin P. Walsh

In a sad story, Ruston Health Care in Williamsburg, Illinois has been sued for trauma to one of its residents. The mentally disabled man was supposed to have his bed guard rails raised. The rails are there for a very specific reason, to keep the resident from falling out of bed.

Tragically, the staff at the nursing home failed to follow the instructions for the man's care, leaving the rail down. The man fell out of bed, striking his head hard enough to cause swelling the size of an orange. He also had blood in his urine. Visible blood in the urine (gross or acute hematoria, depending on the amount of blood -- acute being more severe) after trauma, such as a fall, can be a sign of damage to the upper or lower urinary tract. This can mean trouble with the kidneys, bladder, or urethra. 

Basically, this was no small fall.

The sad part is, the nursing home failed to act in the best interests of the patient by not disclosing the fall to hospital staff after blood was in his urine. Its bad enough that they put him in danger in the first place. But by failing to disclose the fall, they put him in danger of wasted time in trying to diagnosis the cause of the blood in his urine, as it can be caused by many non-trauma related issues. 

Its these simple things that the homes know they should do, but don't, that make me the most frustrated. How do you get a nursing home to stop understaffing? How do you get them to hire people qualified enough to follow the patient's care plan? Simple, you make them pay. Everything in a for profit business comes down to money. If it costs less to break the rules than to follow them, the for profit company will usually break the rules. But by making it hurt every time they endanger a patients life, these companies will start to realize that their bottom line is better off if they follow the rules. 

Of course, this can't be the only tactic used to reform this deplorable behavior, this putting of profit over people.

Its important that each of us, whether in the legal or medical community, get involved with other avenues that can help with reform. There are boards and commissions that deal with nursing homes, you can stay in contact with your local Health and Human Services Department to see what you can do to help.

Residents and their families can help to, by staying involved with the Resident and Family Councils at these places, documenting what they see and working with DSHS to improve the conditions for our loved ones.

I know I often sound like a broken record, but this is how we fix things -- by working together.

Many thanks to Levin and Perconti for bringing this story to my attention. 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

$1,500,000 verdict for resident fall

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Justin P. Walsh

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.

Tags: , , , , , ,