I was my mother's primary caregiver for over 5 years. There came a time when entering a memory care facility was necessary. In my mother's care plan I noted that she needed assistance with dressing & was NOT a fall risk at the time of admittance. All went well for the first few months then there were some red flags concerning the caregivers follow thru, especially during the turn over in caregivers. My mother fell a few times with no injury, but the facility did NOT update her care plan reflecting the falls OR implement any fall risk preventions. Shortly after my mother became a resident at this facility, I realized that after getting dressed for bedtime (with no tennis shoes on), she was slipping on the flooring with just her white socks on. I purchased GRIPPER SOCKS for my mother to have placed on at bedtime.
ALL CAREGIVERS, ALL STAFF, ALL MGMT knew she NEEDED THESE GRIPPER SOCKS ON AT BEDTIME OTHERWISE SHE WOULD SLIP.
ALSO, these SAME ABOVE PEOPLE knew that my mother would get up in the middle of the night to urinate due to her incontinence.
EARLY one morning, my mother got up to go to the bathroom WEARING THE IMPROPER FOOTWEAR, SLIPPED ON THE BATHROOM FLOOR: HIT HER HEAD ON THE SINK, LAID ON THE FLOOR WITH HER HEAD BLEEDING, HAD TO HOLLER FOR A LONG TIME IN ORDER TO GET SOMEONE TO HELP HER. THEN FROM MY INVESTIGATION, I FOUND OUT THAT THE STAFF TOOK "OVER" 23 MINUTES TO CALL 911 FOR HELP!!!! I have proof from the facility incident report & the actual 911 recording, the timelines. NOTE: THE FACILITY WAS NOT FORTHGIVING ON THE INCIDENT REPORT AT ALL!!!
My mother suffered a SUBDURAL HEMATOMA, head LACERATION, FRACTURED HIP; SHE PASSED AWAY DUE TO THE HEMATOMA.
DUE TO THE FACILITY CAREGIVER "NOT" PLACING THE KNOWN PROPER FOOTWEAR, MY MOTHER SLIPPED & HIT HER HEAD!
ALSO, SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE ASSISTANCE TOILETING EVERY TIME. THE ONLY ALARM AVAILABLE WAS ONE BY THE TOILET, SHE WAS UNABLE TO REACH.
MY QUESTION: WHEN DO FACILITIES TAKE RESPONSIBILTY?
MY MOTHER DIED BECAUSE OF A SUBDURAL HEMATOMA.
SHE ACQUIRED A HEMATOMA BECAUSE SHE HIT HER HEAD.
SHE HIT HER HEAD BECAUSE SHE HAD ON THE WRONG FOOTWEAR.
CAPITALIZED.
The elderly DO FALL.
They WILL FALL.
ALL OF THEM WILL FALL.
The reason that the elderly DO and WILL fall despite all safety measures of footwear, of walkers, of canes and of anything else is BALANCE.
BALANCE.
BALANCE.
There is none.
I am 81. I do balance exercises daily (OK, I just lied again) and I weigh more at 145 than I ever weighed in my life. I am 5'7" tall, and riding the bus now where I once stood steady as a rock is like I am a feather in the wind. I kid you not. I better hang on. If not, I am going. And at 81 something is bound to bust, whether my head or hip.
Out gardening I lift one leg to step over a plant, then I better get the other leg down FAST or I am gonna topple.
This is the facts of life.
Seniors will fall in their own home and they will fall in care facilities and yes, they are seniors and things WILL BREAK.
You can go on and on and in all capitals, but the fact that seniors fall because they have no balance is WELL KNOWN. Their brains are swiss cheese. Sorry, but that's another unpleasant fact. Their balance is shot because of their brains. and they will stub across the floor in those safety socks that can CAUSE more falls than they prevent.
You want a one on one aid for each shift then that will save a few falls. A few. Because they will fall anyway. Their balance will likely take the aid with them.
Practice Tai Chi NOW. You will need it in the future.
And as Handel on the Law says, my marginal legal advice is that you have NO CASE.
All I see is the pain, frustration and sadness in your post.
My condolences on the passing of your mother. I hope that you find the right advice, support and kindness that you need & deserve during this traumatic time in your life.
Grieving when you've lost a loved one is totally natural.
Grief counselors tell us that when a loved one passes we often will do literally anything not to have to move into the dark woods of grief, which is such a FINAL thing, so painful. And often we choose anger as a way to avoid the walk through grief. We will blame facilities, doctors, nurses, even our loved ones themselves to avoid having to face down the tears.
However, NO ONE witnessed the fall . That will be the first thing a defense lawyer for the nursing home will say . No one can say for sure whether she slipped because of her improper socks or simply lost her balance , or tripped , fainted , etc . I’ve witnessed people fall with gripper socks on , usually a balance issue . But I’ve also seen them not pick up their feet enough and essentially tripping because the gripper socks catch onto the floor , and propel the elderly person to face plant .
Were there camera’s ? Is the fall recorded on video ? Probably not since you don’t mention that in your thorough post .
Alarms rarely prevent falls . I used to work in nursing homes . We used to say that the only thing the alarm did was tell us the patient will be on the floor by the time we ran down to the room.
Your mother’s care plan should have stated she was a fall risk . Everyone in memory care is a fall risk . But that will not stop the falls especially in Memory Care where the residents can not remember to not get up on their own without assistance or to use a call bell to ask for assistance .
Personally I liked the old days when they wore a posey vest tied to the bed frame so they could not climb out of bed on their own at night . But I’m an old school retired nurse . We did not have many falls back then . Restraints were taken away , the many falls will happen . IMO other than putting a matrress on the floor , fall prevention is pretty much non existent these days . They now put mats on the floors next to beds that not only does the patient trip on them so does the staff .
My grandmother with dementia lived with my Aunt . Grandma was sitting watching TV . My aunt reminded her not to get up while she went in the kitchen ( nearby ) to make grandma a sandwhich for lunch . Guess what ??? Grandma got up to walk over to the TV to change the channel (again ) because grandma thought it was 1950 before remotes . ( it was 2003) . She did not use the remote that was on her tray in front of her . Grandma tripped or lost her balance ( nobody knows ) and fell into the TV . She also died of a subdural hematoma .
I’m so sorry . I understand you thinking that THIS fall may have been prevented , but the reality is that many seniors die of falls unless there is a one to one aide , and even then they still fall taking their assistant down with them .
Try finding an attorney. It doesn't hurt to ask as long as any positive expectations are very tempered.
My condolences on your loss.
It's likely you won't get anywhere because industry standards on nursing home care are so low that it will shock you. Try anyway though. First consultations are always free. I'd definitely talk to a personal injury lawyer if I were you.
They should check it out, but there's no case here.
Sometimes places but it off with some 10,000 20,000 settlement just to get rid of it. So they can try, just knowing the attorney will get that settlement way down and the hospital and medicare will likely gobble up the rest, as the settlement goes to the senior who you must ALSO then hope is not on medicaid or whoops, there goes the medicaid.
The facts of all this may be unpleasant, but they are the facts.
My condolences on the loss of your dear mom.
They forget they need assistance and forget how to use any call buttons . They just get up on their own .