The daughter of an 88 year old nursing home resident came to the Chicago nursing home abuse lawyers at Lipkin & Apter and told us about her mom, an Alzheimer's patient, who had suffered through three falls within about a one year time period. The first fall resulted in no serious injuries, the second resulted in a bump and scratch on the forehead and x-rays to see if there was a skull fracture, but the third caused a fractured clavicle.
During our nursing home abuse investigation, we not only obtained the records from the nursing home, but we also got records from the Illinois Department of Public Health and found that this nursing home had been investigated for their treatment of our client and received a citation. Our investigation revealed that the resident had not been walking when she fell. Rather, she fell out of bed when a CNA that was changing the linens on our client's bed had rolled our client over on her side, then left the room. The CNA had forgotten to roll our client back and failed to put up the bed rails. As a result, our 88 year old client broke her clavicle. Because we proved that our client was a "high fall risk" due to the two previous falls, the nursing home agreed to settle without a lawsuit being filed.
While Lipkin & Apter was able to settle this case without going to trial, we still feel the three falls should have been prevented by the care facility. Negligence should never be a concern for family members of patients who rely on the facility's staff for care. If you or someone you love has not received adequate care, contact our attorneys to schedule a no-cost consultation.