Nursing Home Malpractice: Proper Care After A Patient Fall

When a patient is in a nursing home, there is an expectation that the patient will receive good and timely care. This is in part that we are paying greatly to put a loved one in a nursing home, which is a facility that has health care at the forefront as opposed to adult living or assisting living which is less medically-involved. Patients in nursing homes just are to receive a higher level of medical care.

But sometimes that care can fail a patient and his or her family. Victims can be seriously injured when nursing home staff fail to adhere to the standard of care. Victims can be even killed.

One common scenario is after a fall. Falls are devastating events for just about anyone, especially those who are in a nursing home and are already frail or weak. However, since most people coming into of a nursing home may be recovering from a stroke or other blockage or clotting ailment like a heart attack, a fail can be particularly dangerous or even deadly.

Why?

Because patients after a stroke or heart attack are likely on a clot buster or a blood thinner like heparin. This is a very serious drug which does wonders for stroke victims, but it makes them vulnerable because the body will not clot well or the same as a normal person. This means a fall can cause unparalleled bleeding. But where it is most dangerous is when the patient falls and hits his or her head. A brain bleed may just continue to bleed while a patient is a blood thinner. That can quickly become fatal.

This is why after a fall where the patient hit his or her head, either due to the manifestation of an injury like a cut, bruise, or abrasion, or if the healthcare team THINKS the patient hit his or her head, there must be an immediate brain bleed evaluation. The patient really should be ct-scanned to rule out a brain bleed for the obvious reason that, when the brain bleeds becomes apparent, it may already be too late to reverse the damage.