Nurses Failure To Assist Patient To Toilet Costs Nursing Home Dearly
There's been a lot of talk about a recent jury verdict against Hillcrest Nursing Home, a Kentucky facility, after a patient fell while attempting to transfer herself to the toilet-- and there should be, the jury hit the facility with a $7 million dollar verdict.
The incident involved a patient who was 67-years-young, who was admitted to the nursing home for rehabilitation following a knee surgery. Perhaps due to the woman's youthful appearance, the nurses aide told the woman that she was busy and she could use the toilet herself. It was during the unassisted transfer to the commode, that the nursing home patient fell and severely injured the surgically repaired leg. The leg was so severely injured that it had to be amputated following the fall.
However, as a nursing home lawyer, I am drawn to the common fact pattern that forms the basis of the lawsuit as opposed to the end result. I see many nursing home and hospital patients suffer needless injuries in the bathroom primarily due to two reasons: 1) the staff fails to provide assistance to the patient to get them on to the toilet and 2) the staff leave the patient on the toilet without any supervision.
Of course no one wants to needlessly invade another person's privacy, but when it comes to patients who require assistance, patient safety must trump expectations of privacy.
Even when relatively healthy patients can seemingly navigate their way from their bed to the bathroom and place themselves on the toilet, staff must strictly adhere to the doctors orders when it comes to assistance.
Much more so than in other areas of medical facilities, I tend to see patients suffer injuries in the bathroom due to:
- Changes in their blood pressure when getting out of bed or from a wheelchair
- Lack of stability devices within the bathroom-- guardrails, hand grips
- Staff slow to respond to patients requests to use the toilet
- Inadequate staffing levels at facilities to provide the level of patient assistance set forth in a patients care plan
- Staff that ignore physician orders with respect to assistance when it comes to bathroom use
I guess the moral of all this is that while patient privacy certainly has a place, when it comes to using the restroom, don't be shy about asking for assistance--- you just may need it.
Related:
Falls In Nursing Homes Are A Serious Threat To The Safety Of Many Patients
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For many seniors living in nursing homes and independently in their own homes, getting to doctors appointments or social engagements can be difficult-- if not impossible-- without the assistance provided by non-emergency transportation providers.
Given the frequency (approximately 80+% of all nursing nursing home patients will experience a fall this coming year) with which nursing home falls occur, facilities must be on the lookout when it comes to implementing fall prevention techniques in order to improve patient safety. Too often, the prevention comes too late-- if at all..jpg)
Many elderly people suffer broken bones during admissions to nursing homes due to; falls, being dropped, or perhaps improper care from staff. Regardless how the fracture occurred, a fractured bone in the elderly must be timely identified and treated.
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A recently disclosed Minnesota Department of Public Health report concluded the Good Samaritan Society of Albert Lea was guilty of 'neglect' due to its delay in providing medical treatment to a resident who fell during a transfer from her bed to her wheelchair. The episode took place on November 21st when a worker at the facility improperly used a Sabina lift to move a resident with dementia into a wheelchair. During the transfer, the resident fell and fractured her hip.
