IDPH has cited and fined Meadowbrook Manor nursing home in Bolingbrook after a resident there suffered a brain bleed and other injuries when he fell from bed.
The resident at issue had left-sided weakness as a consequence of having suffered a stroke. As a result of this , he had difficulty moving in bed and caring for himself generally, and had been assessed during the MDS process as needing assist of two with bed mobility. Bed mobility encompasses things like turning from side to side in bed, sitting up in bed, and getting ready to get out of bed.
Part of this resident’s morning routine was that he liked to get his back washed, and the aide assigned to care for him that morning was preparing to do so. She had him move on to one side so that he could reach and hold onto the side rail of his bed while she did the washing of his back. In the process of rolling the resident to his side, his leg went over the edge of the bed and pulled the rest of him over the side. He struck his face on the base of a piece of equipment in his room and had obvious bleeding from cuts on his forehead and nose. The resident was sent to a local hospital where a CT scan showed that he had a brain bleed. He was then transferred to a medical center which was better prepared to address this critical medical issue.
The tale told about this nursing home fall is one which has been told many times in this blog – one person doing a two-person job, with the result being a fall from a lift, someone being rolled from bed, or otherwise mishandled with significant injuries such as a hip fracture or as here a brain bleed as a result. Past the fact that not enough staff was involved in the task of respitioning the resident in bed, the aide rolled the resident away from her rather than bringing the resident toward her so that she would have been position to keep the resident from going over the edge of the bed in just the manner that happened.
This resident was in particular at risk of suffering a brain bleed because he had been on a blood thinner medication following his stroke. Having a resident at risk for brain bleeds due the use of a blood thinner is one reason that fall prevention safety measures must be followed rigorously, as brain bleeds can occur after a fall even without direct trauma to the head.
One of our core beliefs is that nursing homes are built to fail due to the business model they follow and that unnecessary accidental injuries and wrongful deaths of nursing home residents are the inevitable result. Order our FREE report, Built to Fail, to learn more about why. Our experienced Chicago nursing home lawyers are ready to help you understand what happened, why, and what your rights are. Contact us to get the help you need.
Other blog posts of interest:
Lakeshore Rehab resident rolled from bed, breaks leg
Side rail accident at Lexington of Lombard
Brain injury after being rolled from bed at Bria of Palos Hills
Michaelsen Health Center resident suffers fatal hip fracture in fall
Resident falls from bed at Spring Creek in Joliet
Click here to file a complaint about a nursing home with the Illinois Department of Public Health.
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