PHILADELPHIA NURSING HOME INJURIES – FRACTURES
The Philadelphia nursing home injury attorneys at Pomerantz Perlberger & Lewis have recently settled two nursing home fracture cases. Both nursing home residents were paraplegic and unable to turn over by themselves in bed let alone walk or transfer by themselves. When they suffered fractures, suspicion arose that the nurses and aides caring for them must have been responsible.
Our attorneys obtained the necessary records by starting suit and doing careful and persistent discovery. We pieced together what actually happened. Nursing Home Resident #1 suffered a fractured knee cap when she fell to floor while being transferred by Hoyer Lift by one nurse’s aide when correct protocol demanded that all transfers be done with the assistance of two of the nursing home staff. The head nurse and aide denied that she fell and tried to cover up the incident. Proof was found in a video that showed only one aide entering the room prior to Resident #1 coming out of the room by wheelchair and by our client’s telling her story that day to a social worker who heard her crying out in pain.
In addition to her knee fracture this poor woman also suffered a Stage IV bed sore. By careful analysis of both the nursing home’s records and inpatient hospital records over a year’s time, an experienced Philadelphia injury attorney in our firm was able to demonstrate that the decubitus ulcer was allowed to go from Stage II to a chronic infected Stage IV ulcer without proper preventative treatment such as regular repositioning and special bedding. The case settled for well over $100,000 despite the fact that Resident#1 suffered from chronic pain unrelated to her knee fracture and bed sore.
Resident #2 suffered a fractured hip, needing open reduction internal fixation with a rod when she fell out of bed when being turned for bed bathing. Again there was only one aide when there should have been two, one on each side of the bed. The bed rail failed to lock and our poor client was pushed off the side of the bed. She remained on the floor with a broken hip for over an hour before adequate help arrived. Again careful examination of records showed that this was not the first time the bed rail had gone down unexpectedly. The case settled for close to six figures.
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