Can a single fall incident at a nursing home constitute “Neglect?”  According to a recent ruling rendered in a case handled by the attorneys at Berman & Riedel, LLP, the answer appears to be: Yes, under the right circumstances.

The attorneys at Berman & Riedel, LLP, were retained to represent the family of an 87-year-old skilled nursing facility patient who died after suffering a serious fall only four days after being admitted to the facility.  In forwarding the action, the attorneys at Berman & Riedel, LLP argued that nursing staff had neglected the patient by failing to properly care plan for the patient’s safety despite  recognizing the patient to be at “high risk” to suffer falls.  Indeed, the facility’s own assessment that the patient was at “high risk” for suffering falls.  Despite such, however, the facility failed to initiate any fall prevention plans when it wrote its care directives for the patient.  Only four days after being admitted, the patient fell after the day care staff left the patient unattended.  As a result of the fall, the patient sustained a serious head injury and despite being immediately transferred to the hospital where emergency medical care was rendered, the patient died.

In defense of the case brought by Berman & Riedel, LLP, the attorneys retained to defend the skilled nursing facility filed a motion with the court arguing that a single fall incident could not as a matter of law constitute neglect.  After extensive briefing and argument on the issue by both sides, the court disagreed with the position taken by the defense.  In overruling defendant’s motion, the court stated that a single fall incident could constitute “neglect” under certain circumstances and that it would be up to a jury to decide whether or not the conduct of a skilled nursing facility in failing to properly care plan for a “high-fall-risk” patient who thereafter suffers serious personal injury from a fall rose to the level of neglect.  The case never did get to jury; shortly following the court’s ruling on defendant’s pre-trial motion, the self-insured facility agreed to pay decedent’s surviving family $475,000.00 to resolve the case.