falls happen in facilities....the upside is that a patient who needs help after a fall will hopefully be identified within 30 minutes, instead of waiting for a family member or caregiver to arrive at their home. Lots of suggestions here about ways to decrease the risk. sometimes a facility will allow small inverted-U shapes upper rails on a bed, if ordered by MD or NP to improve bed mobility. A mattress can be placed on the floor, if all else fails. This is less likely to be acceptable, as it is hard to help a patient when you are on your hands and knees. A small footstool to sit on at edge of mattress makes it easier to interact, assess, etc.
State laws do not allow bed rails or restraints of any kind. With my Mom she had a concave mattress. Sides higher than the middle. Also, bed lowered as far as it would go with pads on each side of the bed.
Not their fault. Doing everything possible to prevents falls cannot keep them from happening. The patient is sick and doesn’t understand that she should stay put. It isn’t allowed to tie or chain her to the bed or chair or whatever, so accept that they’re doing the best they can do.
No. Would you have been responsible if your parent fell out of bed in your home if you were caring for her there? Things like this happen with advanced old age and there's nobody to 'blame' but old age itself.
Bed alarms notify staff when a resident is already OUT of the bed and on the floor and are pretty much useless for that reason.
If your parent is hospice ready, get them on board for added measures, such as a bolster pillow type thing for the bed to HELP prevent falls. No MCs or ALFs that I know of provide such things; it's hospice that does.
My mother was a huge faller........so her bed was low to the floor and hospice put up a bolster pillow too, and that DID help stop her from falling out of bed. But she still fell out of her wheelchair, off the toilet, etc. And I did not blame the MC or accuse them of any wrongdoing.
If there was a history of falls there are a few more things the facility might have done: having a bed that lowers to the floor and/or fall mats to cushion the fall and adding bolsters or wedges to the sides of the bed have all been mentioned as meeting safety requirements. Alarms don't prevent falls, they just alert about movement after the fact.
Falls are quite common nowadays and restraints are almost never allowed. If the patient was competent and aox3 (awake and oriented to person, place and time, and the person got out of bed against medical advise and subsequently fell, the answer is "no, the staff is not responsible". Even if the staff knew the patient was unsafe, if they did all they could be maintain safety (the rule is usually every 15 minute checks or asking family to hire a sitter) then a suit on this would go nowhere. This belled was likely occurring before the getting out of bed if there was a head injury. There is little way to know. Was a CT scan done before the patient fell and what did it show. You surely could run this by an attorney. Just know that most will not take on hospitals today. They are too unlikely to be able to put in the time and expense to beat a hospital's attorneys is the sad truth. There is no reason you cannot check with them. Do not put your own money into any case; if they won't take it on contingency that means they already know this is a "no win case".
Lots of suggestions here about ways to decrease the risk.
sometimes a facility will allow small inverted-U shapes upper rails on a bed, if ordered by MD or NP to improve bed mobility. A mattress can be placed on the floor, if all else fails. This is less likely to be acceptable, as it is hard to help a patient when you are on your hands and knees. A small footstool to sit on at edge of mattress makes it easier to interact, assess, etc.
Bed alarms notify staff when a resident is already OUT of the bed and on the floor and are pretty much useless for that reason.
If your parent is hospice ready, get them on board for added measures, such as a bolster pillow type thing for the bed to HELP prevent falls. No MCs or ALFs that I know of provide such things; it's hospice that does.
My mother was a huge faller........so her bed was low to the floor and hospice put up a bolster pillow too, and that DID help stop her from falling out of bed. But she still fell out of her wheelchair, off the toilet, etc. And I did not blame the MC or accuse them of any wrongdoing.
Even if the staff knew the patient was unsafe, if they did all they could be maintain safety (the rule is usually every 15 minute checks or asking family to hire a sitter) then a suit on this would go nowhere.
This belled was likely occurring before the getting out of bed if there was a head injury. There is little way to know. Was a CT scan done before the patient fell and what did it show.
You surely could run this by an attorney. Just know that most will not take on hospitals today. They are too unlikely to be able to put in the time and expense to beat a hospital's attorneys is the sad truth. There is no reason you cannot check with them. Do not put your own money into any case; if they won't take it on contingency that means they already know this is a "no win case".