IDPH has cited and fined Landmark of Des Plaines Rehab nursing home after a resident sustained a brain bleed due to a fall from bed.
The resident at issue had a movement disorder which left her a total assist with all activities of daily living and bed mobility. She was an assist of two with bed mobility. On the day of the accident, she was being changed by a single aide after an episode of incontinence. She was positioned on her side but was moving her arms involuntarily which brought her closer to the edge of the bed. She started to slide off, and the aide was unable to stop the fall. She hit her head on the legs to the bedside table and began to bleed. She was sent to the emergency room where a CT scan showed that she had a brain bleed. A repeat scan was done which showed that the bleeding had advanced to the point that the doctor declared that it was likely a fatal hemorrhage. Assuming that was the case, this nursing home fall would be the basis for a wrongful death lawsuit.
The conclusion of the IDPH investigation was that this resident required the assist of two with incontinence care, but as with some of the other IDPH citations we have written about (see here, here, here, and here), there was a single aide changing a resident who needed the help of two.
What was unclear from the citation is why there was only one aide. The resident was assessed as required the assistance of two with bed mobility. However, the aide who was changing the resident was the regular aide who cared for her and said that she was assist of one for changing. If that was the case, then there was an inadequate care plan in that it did not provide for assist of two with incontinence care for a resident whose condition called for that. On the other hand, if the aide did not know that the assist of two was required, there were breakdowns in how the contents of the care plan were communicated to the staff. It also means that this resident would have been receiving care in a manner inconsistent with the care plan for week or months on end, and the nursing home had just gotten lucky that there had not been an injury from a fall earlier. There is a difference between dodging bullets and providing good care, and this resident paid the price for a staff that had been dodging bullets for weeks instead of providing the care that was needed.
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 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.
Other blog posts of interest:
Moorings staff fails to notify doctor of symptoms of GI bleed
Bella Terra Streamwood resident suffers multiple fractures in fall
Niles Nursing & Rehab resident suffers fatal brain bleed in fall
Care plan violation at Central Nursing Home
Wheelchair fall at Hillcrest Retirement Village
Generations Oakton Pavilion resident falls and fractures hip
Resident suffers brain bleed after third fall at Bria of Chicago Heights
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