Nursing Home Negligence Case Settled During Trial
Our client had undergone extensive back surgery at Oregon Health Science University to relieve ongoing pain. The surgery was so extensive that it was staged in two procedures. After some recovery from the second procedure, she was transported from OHSU to a skilled nursing facility for additional recovery and rehabilitation.
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.
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