Eugene Oregon Personal Injury Attorneys

Nursing Home Negligence Case Settled During Trial

The woman arrived at the skilled nursing facility on a stretcher and had a back brace on to stabilize her spine. She was on narcotic pain medications. She told staff at the facility on the day of her arrival that she needed her back brace on when up and that she also needed assistance from staff when up out of bed. Documentation from OHSU to the nursing facility confirmed the woman’s care needs. During her first night at the facility, an aide got her out of bed without her back brace on, brought her to the bathroom, then left her alone. She fell.

The nursing facility did not tell the back surgeon what had happened. X-rays taken that night at the hospital of part of her spine did not initially show a fracture. She was returned to the nursing facility, where the nursing records documented ongoing pain. The facility still did not report the fall to the surgeon. It was not until the woman was accepted at a second facility, which told the surgeon and primary care physicians about the ongoing pain, that she was transported back up to OHSU. There, her doctors diagnosed a spinal fracture with dislocation and spinal cord compression. The woman  had to undergo an expensive and difficult “redo” of her previous surgeries.

Our case settled for a confidential amount during the second morning of trial.

Nursing Facility Failures Resulted in Death: Confidential Settlement

A skilled nursing facility hired an uncertified nursing assistant to provide care to the elderly residents of its long term care ward. Our client’s mother, M, was a resident of that ward. On Thanksgiving, M’s extended family went to the facility to celebrate the holiday and share a family meal. A photograph taken that day shows an alert and happy 95 year old woman surrounded by three generations of her family.

Because of M’s fall history and unsteadiness on her feet, several months earlier the facility had developed a plan to prevent further falls. That plan was put in writing and placed in her room for each care giver to see. That plan provided that all care givers were to remain with M in the bathroom. The plan was designed to anticipate falls and to prevent injuries from falls (by catching M before she reached the ground).

A few days after Thanksgiving, M rang her call light and the uncertified nursing assistant came to her room, brought her to the bathroom, and then left the room altogether. The uncertified nursing assistant testified at her deposition that she knew that the care plan required her to remain, but that she had been instructed by other care givers at the facility not to follow the care plan. She said she left M in the room alone so she could do paperwork at the nurses’ station.

M fell. She was found on the floor, bleeding from her head, with a laceration of her elbow, and pain in her hip. She was diagnosed with a hip fracture at the hospital. Her condition declined rapidly. She survived the necessary surgery but died within a week of the fall. The case settled for a confidential amount.