A resident of Palm Terrace of Mattoon, a nursing home located in Mattoon, Illinois, broke her wrist after being left unattended in a nursing home bathroom for an indeterminate length of time. The Minimum Data Set, also known as a Plan of Care, determined that the resident required extensive assistance when moving from a seated to standing position, moving on and off the toilet, and any surface to surface transfer.
The nursing home fall took place in the restroom of the facility. The nursing home staff allege that the fall took place while the resident was attempting to place herself on the toilet. As a resident designated as a high risk of falls, she should not have been left unattended.
To protect the resident’s privacy, a Palm Terrace of Mattoon staff member could have waited outside the bathroom door until she was ready to be transferred. Instead, Palm Terrace staff left her completely unattended. The certified nurses aide (CNA) assigned to her found her after the fall although it was not known how much time elapsed from the fall to her discovery.
The reason that nursing home falls are frequently signs of nursing home neglect is that, unlike typical slip and fall accidents, nursing home falls are mostly predictable incidents. Nursing homes are obligated to conduct regular evaluations of each of their residents to determine how likely they are to experience a nursing home fall and take actions to prevent those falls from occurring.
If you have a loved one who has suffered a damaging fall in an Illinois nursing home, and you feel that their injuries are the result of nursing home neglect, contact our Chicago nursing home fall lawyers for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. Our nursing home attorneys are experienced at investigating and litigating all aspects of nursing home fall cases.
Other blog posts of interest:
Resident hospitalized at Palm Terrace due to medication error
Resident injured in fall from bed at Manorcare of Oak Lawn West
Spree of falls at Brentwood North
Resident falls multiple times and breaks hip at Claridge Healthcare