Saving the life of a loved one who falls at a nursing home August 25, 2009

In our Daytona Beach-based nursing home neglect practice we regularly see serious injuries from falls that have been all but ignored. This almost always makes things worse or at a minimum results in the patient suffering unnecessary pain.

The two types of serious injuries we most often see from falls are traumatic brain injury and fractured hips. People with these types of injuries need to be given prompt and appropriate medical treatment to avoid what can be drastic consequences or substantial pain.

What should you do then if you get a call from the nursing home that your family member has fallen this is a?   Since you are not likely to be a medical professional, the most important thing you can do is to insist that your family member be thoroughly and adequately assessed to determine if there is an injury and follow-up to make sure adequate treatment is provided.

First, ask the nurses what has already been done to determine if there has been a serious injury.  Insist that the nurses examine the patient’s entire body for bruises, cuts, red areas, skin tears or any other sign of injury. Insist that they document everything they see.

Write down what they tell you and get a copy of their documentation so that you can share it with a doctor if appropriate. If necessary examine your family member yourself and take pictures with your cell phone so that you can share them with a doctor.

If there is any sign of injury to the head from the fall, insist that the nurses transfer your family member to the emergency room for evaluation by the doctors.  Injuries that can result in traumatic brain injury are not always apparent. It may take some time for symptoms of brain injury to appear. If appropriate, the doctors can perform a CAT scan or other diagnostic procedures that reveal information not available to nurses at the nursing home.

As to possible fractured hips, if there is any sign of injury to the hips, legs or lower body insist that the nurses do an assessment immediately and repeat the assessment that you at least on the next shift. Ask that a physical therapist and the doctor also evaluate your family member. Ask your family member if he or she is experiencing any pain and where the pain is.  Write down what your family member says and tell the nurses.  Tell them about your own observations and whether you think the patient is in pain.

If you have a bad feeling that your family member is not getting adequate care, trust your instinct and insist that the nurses transfer the patient to the emergency room for evaluation.

Sometimes people are reluctant to insist on more care than is being provided by the nurses because they want to avoid confrontation. Try to resist your understandable desire to avoid confrontation and in as friendly a way as possible insist that your loved one gets what you think is adequate care.