Dropped Patients in Spartanburg Nursing Homes

When you send an elderly loved one to a nursing home or assisted living facility, it is always with the hope that they will receive better care than you can provide them. When you instead get the call that they fell or were dropped while in the care of people who are considered professional caretakers, it can be quite alarming.

It is worse if you discover that your loved one sustained injuries due to the staffer’s negligence or carelessness. If you are wondering what your options are after seeing your elderly loved one and the state of their injuries, a nursing home abuse attorney from Holland & Usry can help you. We will meet with you to explore your legal options in your case involving a dropped patient in a Spartanburg nursing home. Contact us today for a FREE case review.

Common Factors in Dropped Nursing Home Resident Cases

Most instances of nurses dropping patients in Spartanburg assisted living facilities are unintentional. However, these mistakes can be costly. Accidental falls due to patients slipping out of nurses’ hands or carriers can be caused by several issues, including:

• Negligence as demonstrated in a nurse’s carelessness while transferring the elderly resident
• Staffing shortages, where there are not enough hands to help move residents from one position or location to another
• Poor staff training, which is evident in the inadequate handling of residents during their movement
• Improper use of lifting equipment, such as Hoyer lifts and wheelchairs
• Malfunctioning equipment
• Workplace hazards such as wet floors or slightly lifted carpet edges, loose handrails, clutter, uneven floors, or unstable furniture
• Poor or inadequate lighting

While these are the more common reasons for falls in nursing homes, there are less frequent instances involving malicious or intentional harm. This may be triggered by an employee’s loss of patience or retaliatory actions against an elderly resident’s behavior, resistance, or health problems.

Therefore, it is best to have a nursing home abuse attorney review the circumstances of your case to determine if the cause of your loved one’s fall was neglect or something more sinister.

What Injuries Can Residents Sustain From Being Dropped?

In many instances, Spartanburg nursing home residents do not sustain injuries after they are mistakenly dropped by staff. However, in some cases, the resident may sustain an injury due to their frailty, advanced age, health condition, or the severity of the fall. Common injuries include bruises, cuts, joint dislocations, broken bones, spinal injuries, head trauma, and internal bleeding.

Unfortunately, some of these symptoms do not immediately show. An elderly resident could be in pain or discomfort from these injuries, but it may not be obvious because they are unable to express themselves effectively.

Determining Liability in a Nursing Home Drop or Fall Case

Assisted living facilities can be the subject of a nursing home abuse lawsuit or an injury claim. However, before a claim or lawsuit can be filed, a personal injury attorney has to prove that the negligent actions of the Spartanburg nursing home led to the patient being dropped and suffering those injuries.

Specifically, they have to establish that the nursing home failed in its duty to provide adequate care to the elderly resident by:

• Breaking industry safety rules, called the “standard of care”
• A lack of proper staff training
• Not maintaining a safe environment
• Failing to hire adequate staff
• Not providing staff notification devices
• Disregarding hazards

Next, they must prove that, as a result, the patient sustained injuries and suffered unnecessary pain and discomfort while they were hospitalized.

Contact a Spartanburg Attorney If Your Elderly Loved One Was Dropped in a Nursing Home

At Holland & Usry, we have handled many cases involving dropped patients in Spartanburg nursing homes, and we are here to help you. A nursing home abuse lawyer from our firm will weigh the circumstances of your elderly loved one’s injury and collect evidence, medical records, and other vital information to build a case and, if the case makes sense to pursue for your loved one,  take action against the facility for its insurance company to pay for the harm they caused.

Contact us today for a FREE case evaluation.