Massachusetts Nursing Home Abuse Trial Report -

NATURE OF CASE  

Fractured Femur due to fall in a nursing home

INJURIES ALLEGED:

Fractured Femur

NAME OF CASE:

Withheld.

COURT:

Withheld.

JUDGE:

Withheld.

AMOUNT OF AWARD / SETTLEMENT:

$100,000

LAWYER FOR PLAINTIFF:

Eric J. Parker, Susan M. Bourque: PARKER | SCHEER LLP, Boston, Massachusetts

LAWYER FOR DEFENDANTS:

Withheld.

OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION:

The plaintiff, a 90-year-old male with increasing dementia, was a placed in a Massachusetts long-term care facility after multiple falls at home made it impossible for his elderly spouse to safely care for him. Upon admission to the nursing home, a care plan was developed, which provided for safety measures due to his high fall risk, including sensor alarms on his bed and wheelchair and a wanderguard placed around his ankle.

Despite these measures, in September 2004, the plaintiff was able to get up out of his wheelchair and ambulate an unknown distance in the hallway before falling to the ground and sustaining a comminuted right hip fracture. The plaintiff underwent surgical repair of his right hip fracture and his post-operative hospital course was complicated by concern for infection. He was discharged five days later to a rehabilitation hospital where he spent more than a month participating in physical and occupational therapy trying to regain strength and mobility in his leg.

Unfortunately, during the plaintiff’s recovery he developed pneumonia and ultimately died from complications of this illness.

The plaintiff’s estate filed a lawsuit against the nursing home alleging that they failed to adequately supervise him and allowed the plaintiff to ambulate unsupervised, which led to his fall and hip fracture.

The prosecution of the plaintiff’s case was complicated by the plaintiff’s underlying dementia, which made him an unreliable historian of the events that occurred that day. Additionally, the differing accounts of his fall in the various medical records made it extremely difficult to prove the actual location of the plaintiff’s fall.

The insurance carrier for the long-term care facility agreed to participate in a mediation of this matter. At the mediation, the defendant challenged the sufficiency of the plaintiff’s evidence as to the location of the fall, which – the defendant contended - was a critical causation issue. The defendant also challenged the extent of damages since the plaintiff died of unrelated causes five months after his fall.

The case settled one month before trial.

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