In February of this year, a nursing home inspector for the state of Illinois was visiting the Rolling Hills Manor nursing home in Zion, Illinois when one of the residents made a surprising statement. She said that she broke her clavicle (shoulder blade), but she didn’t remember how it happened.
A subsequent inquiry by the investigator revealed why the lapse might have occurred: a half a dozen nursing home falls over the course of just a few months. On 2/27/11 she was found on the floor of the activity room. On 4/16 she was found sprawled next to her wheelchair. On 7/18, she was found on the floor outside of her bathroom. On 8/5, she was found on the floor again. On 9/21 she fell in the bathroom again. On 12/16 she was found on the floor of the nursing home vestibule. It was this fall that resulted in the broken clavicle.
With this history, is it any wonder that she couldn’t remember the circumstances of her injury?
As an experienced nursing home falls lawyer, my first questions are: how were so many falls allowed to happen? What proactive steps did Rolling Hills Manor take when the first nursing home falls occurred, and how did Rolling Hills Manor escalate the level of intervention when the nursing home falls continued?
Sadly, it seems that Rolling Hills Manor did little to intervene when the nursing home falls began, and took no steps to escalate protections when falls continued. This clearly constitutes nursing home neglect. It was only after the December fall that resulted in a broken clavicle that Rolling Manor updated her plan of care with the note “Don’t leave resident unattended while in wheelchair.”
Nursing home falls are extremely dangerous. Because nursing home residents often have fragile bones, nursing home falls often result in breaks. These, in turn, require a long convalescence that frequently lead to bed sores and pneumonia, conditions that frequently prove fatal.
If you have a loved one who has suffered repeated falls in an Illinois nursing home, contact my law offices for a free and confidential evaluation of your case.
Other blog posts on nursing home falls:
Improper use of bed alarm at Symphony of Joliet
Fall from wheelchair at Meadowbrook Manor