In Kansas City, resident falls in nursing homes frequently cause broken bones and other serious nursing home injuries to elderly residents. If suffering from broken bones was not enough, according to the nursing homes CDC fall statistics many nursing home residents also develop additional complications including brain injuries, strokes, pneumonia, and bed sores after the fall. At Bautista LeRoy, we seek to hold nursing homes accountable to provide a safe environment for all residents and ensure nursing home falls protocol are met to lessen the risk of falls. We serve Kansas City, MO / KS, Arkansas, Benton County, and St. Louis.
Interventions For Fall Risk Patients
Along with filing nursing home neglect lawsuits against nursing homes in Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas, our attorneys also help educate families with loved ones in nursing homes on what the morse fall scale is and how fall prevention in nursing homes can prevent falls in the elderly from occurring. If your loved one is at risk of falling, follow these nursing home fall intervention steps to ensure they are receiving proper care from the nursing home or long-term care facility.
- Have a family member attend every care plan meeting with the Nursing Director. In those meetings ask questions about the nursing facilities fall prevention policies.
- Take notes and ask for a copy of the risk for falls care plan on what nursing home employees say they are going to do to prevent your loved one from falling. You should also ask if their staff knows what to do when a resident falls in a nursing home.
- Make sure a qualified registered nurse or doctor does a proper risk for falls nursing diagnosis.
- Have family members visit the nursing home at different times during the day and evening. Whenever you visit the nursing facility ask if there are any updates or incidents involving your loved one.
- Monitor how many employees are available to transfer your family member to or from the bed or wheelchair.
- To assist with falling out of bed prevention, make sure all bed or chair alarms work and are in the proper place to notify staff if your family member needs help to move around the facility.
- If your loved one is in a nursing home for several years, then insist on reviewing the care plan on a quarterly basis.
- If there is a fall, then insist on seeing the post fall assessment and management outlining the details of how the fall occurred, who was involved and what changes will be made by the nursing home staff to prevent future falls.
Who Regulates Nursing Homes?
The laws of Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas, require that residents who suffer a fall in a nursing home must be immediately evaluated by the nursing home staff to determine the reason for the fall and the extent of the resident's injuries. The facility is responsible for notifying your loved one's physician and family contact person immediately after the incident. Unfortunately, a lot of nursing homes perform a quick fall assessment and fail to contact family members or medical providers when a fall occurs.
In many instances, due to the nursing home's negligence, residents suffer for days with broken bones before finally being sent to a hospital. Further, residents that suffer from loss of consciousness, fever, or abnormal blood pressure after a fall should be closely monitored by the nursing home staff. Finally, once a nursing home resident falls, the nursing home must be made to improve the care being provided to that specific resident and to identify steps that will be taken to improve the resident's safety in the future.
If your loved one has suffered a fall and you feel the nursing home has not taken the proper preventative measures or given proper care once the fall occurred, please call Bautista LeRoy at 816-221-0382. We can help.
Summary
When a nursing home facility fails to uphold a safe environment, elder residents can suffer from falls. This may seem like a simple accident, but for older individuals, the results could be catastrophic. They could suffer injuries that can have an impact on their health and life overall. For example:
- Broken hips
- Fractured arms
- Head trauma
Injured residents and their families can pursue legal action to seek compensation. The attorneys of Bautista LeRoy LLC have years of expertise in holding negligent nursing home facilities accountable for their residents' suffering. We can help in protecting your elderly loved ones and securing proper compensation for their recovery.
Family members also have a big role in ensuring their loved ones are safe from fall accidents inside a nursing home:
- Attend care plan meetings
- Ask about fall prevention policies
- Request fall risk care plan
- Confirm a nurse performs the fall assessment
- Visit at different times
- Observe staff availability
- Check bed
- Check chair alarms
- Review care plan
If you suspect negligence was the reason for your loved one's fall inside a nursing home, take action immediately. The Bautista LeRoy LLC's attorneys can guide you through the lhe legal process. Reach out to us at www.bautistaleroy.com or 816-221-0382.
What Makes A Nursing Home Fall Accident A Legal Case?
A fall accident can be a legal case depending on how and why it occurred. If its cause is an act of negligence, such as the facility's failure to follow safety standards and ignoring complaints, families of elderly residents can take legal action.
How Can An Attorney Help After A Fall In A Nursing Home?
A personal injury attorney who has experience in handling nursing home fall cases can assess pieces of evidence, such as:
- Medical records
- Incident reports
- Staffing practices
An attorney can build a case that can prove a nursing home management's failure to take care of their residents.
What Kinds Of Injuries Often Appear In These Claims?
- Broken hips
- Head trauma
- Severe bruising
- Emotional distress
Do Families Need Proof Before Contacting An Attorney?
Not necessarily, as a personal injury attorney can investigate the case further to prove that the reason for your loved one's fall injuries is the nursing home's negligence.
What Compensation Might Be Available For Injured Residents?
A successful nursing home compensation claim can cover different types of damages, such as:
- Medical treatment
- Rehabilitation costs
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Punitive Damages
- Wrongful Death
