IDPH has cited and fined The British Home in Brookfield, Illinois after a resident there suffered a right hip dislocation in a fall. Importantly, the resident’s Minimum Data Set clearly stated that the resident needed two, not one person to assist with movements in bed.
Much of the routine care that residents receive in a nursing home setting is shaped by the resident care plan. In the care planning process, an assessment is done to identify the resident’s care needs and risks to the health and well-being of the resident. A series of steps, or interventions, are then put into place which are intended to meet the resident’s needs. The staff members assigned to carry out those interventions then must do so on a day-to-day, shift-to-shift basis.
The resident at issue had a Minimum Data Set (MDS), a key part of the care planning process, that indicated the resident required two-person assist for bed mobility, which includes turning side to side and body positioning in bed.
On the day of this nursing home fall, the resident said a male CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) was helping him get into bed, when he began slipping out of his arms, and almost fell to the floor. The resident added he “kept slipping and sliding out from the male aide’s hold” and was face down when his hands went down to the floor. The resident then said the male aide was trying to hold the rest of his body up, but eventually his whole body ended up on the floor.
After the fall, the resident was in between the bed and the radiator, almost in a fetal position, screaming “please help me.” Since the resident was asking to get off the floor, the CNA got the mechanical lift and assisted the resident up off the floor and back into bed.
The resident was emergently sent to a local hospital for further evaluation and treatment per physician’s orders. The resident was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with “right hip dislocation with no acute fracture.”
The nursing home had a reasonable care plan in place for this resident – the problem was that the staff did not implement it. Rather than follow this care plan, the staff attempted to help the resident into bed with the assistance of only one CNA, not two as the MDS called for.
The fact that the staff plowed ahead with trying to assist the resident with only one staff member raises a question of whether this is an understaffed nursing home. This is true anytime you see the staff taking shortcuts which sacrifice resident safety. Sadly, understaffing a nursing home is a core feature of the nursing home business model. One of our core beliefs is that nursing homes are built to fail due to the business model they follow and that unnecessary accidental injuries and wrongful deaths of nursing home residents are the inevitable result. Order our FREE report, Built to Fail, to learn more about why. Our experienced Chicago nursing home lawyers are ready to help you understand what happened, why, and what your rights are. Contact us to get the help you need.
