If residents of nursing homes do not receive the care that protects them from broken bones and fractures, they may have the legal ability to collect financial awards. If your loved one has suffered broken bones in a nursing home, legal representation may help you obtain financial awards for their injuries as well as subsequent injuries that may result from the incident.
Potential Causes of Broken Bones in Nursing Homes
Susceptibility to breaking bones increases with age. Some characteristics are more prevalent in the elderly population than in younger people that could increase the chances of breaking a bone include:
- Osteoporosis, which develops with age as our bones fail to replace broken down tissue.
- Poor balance.
- Poor eyesight.
- Potential medicine-induced dizziness or drowsiness.
These symptoms increase chances for falling in elderly adults, who have a higher risk of sustaining injuries when they do fall. Some fractures that an elderly adult in a nursing home may sustain after a fall include:
- Arm fractures
- Hip fractures
- Hand fractures
- Leg fractures
- Thigh fractures
- Pelvic fractures
- Fractures on the spine
Broken bones in elderly adults may increase their risk of death for as long as ten years after the fracture occurs. Knowing what your loved one’s nursing home is doing to protect residents from fracturing or breaking a bone may help you advocate for your loved one.
Caretakers’ Responsibility to Prevent the Likelihood of Broken Bones in Residents
Studies show that there are several methods to prevent fractures in elderly people, including:
- Providing a nutritional regimen that supports bone strength.
- Taking steps to anticipate high-risk circumstances, preventing falls before they happen.
- Obtaining education on properly caring for someone who has broken a bone.
If a nursing home fails to put safeguards in place for residents, it could be held liable for your loved one’s fracture.
How a Nursing Home May Fail to Prevent Broken Bones
Nursing homes have a responsibility to educate caregivers on appropriate standards of care for their residents, and this includes knowing how to prevent broken bones whenever possible. Instances in which a caregivers’ neglect may have played a role in your loved one’s injuries can include:
- Providing food and drink that does not promote bone health and regeneration.
- Failing to properly supervise residents, especially residents at an increased risk of falling.
- Failing to provide bed restraints for residents who may fall from their beds.
- Lifting a resident into and out of bed in a rough manner likely to increase the risk of fracture.
- Failing to secure a resident in a wheelchair properly.
- Failing to provide walking assistance devices for all residents.
- Failing to diagnose and treat diseases that could increase the risk of bone fracture, such as osteoporosis.
- Failing to provide proper footwear to residents.
- Failing to tidy a resident’s room and other areas, increasing the risk of tripping.
If you believe a nursing home staff member failed to take these or other preventative measures, a lawyer may help you seek financial awards for the resulting injuries.
For a free legal consultation, call (800) 842-6336
How a Lawyer May Help After a Broken Bone Incident in a Nursing Home
Whether negligence occurred intentionally or not, if a staff member acted in a way that increased your loved one’s risk of bone fracture or failed to protect your loved one from injury, then a lawyer may be able to help you by:
- Meeting with your loved one to document accounts of the accident and causal circumstances.
- Initiating legal action immediately to comply with the relevant statutes of limitation.
- Alerting nursing home administrators of pending litigation and requesting cooperation.
- Interviewing nursing home staff and documenting accounts of how the fracture occurred.
- Obtaining any video of the accident.
- Documenting conditions in the nursing home that increased the risk of danger for residents, such as clutter.
- Handling all legal responsibilities necessary in efforts to pursue financial awards on your loved one’s behalf.
If Your Loved One Broke or Fractured a Bone in a Nursing Home, Call Right Away
Our team at the Pintas & Mullins Law Firm aims to ensure that your loved one sustains no further injury as a result of a broken bone. Call our team today at (800) 842-6336 to discuss your case. You pay nothing upfront, nothing out of pocket, and nothing unless we secure financial awards on your behalf.
Call or text (800) 842-6336 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
