A resident was diagnosed with a fractured hip after she fell in her bathroom in the Lutheran Care Center in Altamont, Illinois. This was far from her first fall, and far from her first injury. She was admitted to the facility after she fractured her hip in a fall from home.
Whenever a resident is first admitted to any nursing home, he or she is given an initial assessment to determine the residents risk of nursing home falls, bed sores, and other typical nursing home conditions.
When this resident was assessed, she was given a score of 18 on the Fall Risk Assessment scale. Since anything over a 10 indicates a high risk, clearly the woman was at an extremely high risk of nursing home falls.
Anyone who scores that highly on a nursing home falls assessment should never be left unattended in a situation where they can fall. According to the report by the Illinois Department of Public Health, the resident was found after a nursing home fall in her Lutheran Care Center bathroom.
A fractured hip can easily turn into a potentially fatal injury for a nursing home resident. Fractures of the hip can keep a resident bedridden for weeks. During that period, he or she is extremely vulnerable to infection, bed sores, and illnesses like pneumonia. Any one of those conditions can easily prove fatal to a nursing home resident.
If you have a loved one in an Illinois nursing home who has been seriously injured in a nursing home fall, contact the Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle for a free evaluation of your case. At my law offices our Chicago nursing home lawyers have the knowledge and expertise to manage every aspect of your nursing home fall lawsuit.