Hospital Fall and Head Injury

Key Takeaways

• Ignored Fall Risks: Despite presenting with severe stroke symptoms and known neurological weakness, hospital staff left the highly vulnerable elderly patient completely unattended.
• Failure to Follow Orders: Nursing personnel egregiously failed to implement basic safety protocols, including neglecting to activate a specifically ordered bed alarm.
• Early Wrongful Death Settlement: The predictable fall caused a fatal subarachnoid hemorrhage, prompting the hospital to recognize their indefensible nursing negligence and agree to a significant confidential settlement prior to litigation.

Preventable Emergency Room Fall Leads to Fatal Brain Bleed

Our elderly client entered the hospital emergency room with symptoms of a large stroke and a history of prior strokes with neurological injuries making him weak and unstable. Numerous family members were with the client at his bedside when they were asked to leave so the patient could be changed and cleaned, so the family members complied and left his room.  Unfortunately, hospital personnel failed to monitor the client, failed to use the ordered bed alarm, and left him unattended in his bed. Predictably, he fell and struck his head on the floor causing him to suffer a subarachnoid hemorrhage that caused substantial bleeding in his brain. He died several days later as a result of the brain bleed. The hospital knew the case was indefensible from a nursing perspective and requested early mediation before litigation. The claim was settled for a significant confidential amount at mediation.