MONTGOMERY, AL – Sawyer Law Firm recently settled a nursing home negligence case on the eve of trial. The case involved a nursing home resident who was allowed to fall out of his bed and fracture his hip. The resident’s medical record indicated that a nursing assistant heard a fall alarm sounding and found the resident on the floor.
In depositions taken in the case, nursing home abuse Attorney J.P. Sawyer was able to get the charge nurse to admit the nursing assistant who found the resident just happened to be walking through the area when she heard the alarm sounding. “There is no telling how long he had been lying there suffering”, Sawyer said. “The nursing assistant who found him testified that she had no idea where the staff was that was responsible for him at the time of the fall. She said they were probably ‘on a break.’”
About 1,800 nursing home residents die from falls each year.
Many other falls go unreported. “This is a serious issue as most falls lead to other medical problems and can result in a rapid decline in the elderly,” Sawyer said. “There is no excuse for staff leaving residents unattended. I am just glad we were able to discover the truth for our client’s family because the nursing home never would have revealed this to them”
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