Falls in Nursing Homes
Americans, age 75 and older, face the highest risk of fatal brain injuries, according to new research examining traumatic brain injury deaths throughout the United States. The research, published in the journal, Brain Injury, analyzed U.S. mortality rates from 2021, finding that adults 75 and older experience nearly 87 deaths per 100,000 people, more than three times higher than any other age group. Among all age groups, men face significantly higher risk than women.
Falls pose a particularly serious threat to older adults, causing more than 62 deaths per 100,000 people age 75 and older. The study found that older adults with pre-existing health conditions faced increased mortality risk within the first year following a traumatic brain injury.
Falls are a very serious problem in nursing homes.
Nursing homes are legally obligated to provide their residents with a safe environment. The State of Ohio Legislature passed a law known as the Ohio Nursing Home Residents Bill of Rights. One of the rights guaranteed to nursing home residents in Ohio is the right to a safe environment.
In addition, there are certain sections of the Code of Federal Regulations that govern the care of nursing home residents in a nursing home. Nursing homes are legally obligated to provide their residents with adequate supervision to prevent accidents. This is because nursing homes know that falls pose a serious risk to all nursing home residents. If a resident falls and suffers a hip fracture, requiring surgery, this is a significant risk. All surgeries carry a significant risk. All hospitalizations carry a significant risk. The risk for major surgery to repair an orthopedic fracture, is very significant for an elderly nursing home resident, particularly someone with comorbidities.
As indicated above, head injuries pose particular dangers to nursing home residents. When a resident falls, sometimes they suffer a traumatic brain injury because of injury to their skull. More likely, when the person suffers a fall and suffers a rapid deceleration of their head, they suffer a brain injury because their brain impacts the inside of their skull. Therefore, a person can have little or no injury that is outwardly visible, and still suffer a potentially fatal brain injury. Any time the brain is injured, it can swell. A person can suffer a bleed in their brain. All of this poses a life-threatening challenge to the individual injured.
Nursing homes are legally obligated to have an adequate number of appropriately trained staff to provide care for their residents. If a nursing home is understaffed, it is virtually impossible to provide their residents with adequate supervision. If someone you love is in a nursing home, and they are not using alarms to alert the staff when the residents try to get up unattended, you should ask the people at the nursing home how they are providing the residents with adequate supervision. I have never understood how a nursing home can provide their residents with adequate supervision without the use of alarms. This is particularly true at night. In the middle of the night, when most of the residents are in bed in their rooms, with their lights out, I have no idea how a nurse and a number of aides can possibly provide adequate supervision to 20 or 30 nursing home residents all asleep in their beds, without alarms. Therefore, I have no understanding of how any nursing home, can provide their residents with adequate supervision without some kind of alarm system. There are motion detectors, which can be an effective substitute for alarms. But the nursing home needs some kind of a system to alert the staff when a resident who is not able to walk safely on their own tries to get up and walk.
Some residents are able to walk safely on their own, and they do not need an alarm. Some residents are unable to get up on their own, and they do not need an alarm. But for those residents who are able to get up on their own but not walk safely on their own they have to have some kind of a system whereby the nursing home is alerted when they try to get up. Some alarms are pressure alarms, meaning they go under the resident in their bed or in their chair, and when the resident tries to get up, they begin to take pressure off the alarm, and the alarm sounds. Some alarms clip to the back of the resident's clothing, and then there is a string that attaches to the alarm base with a magnet. If the resident tries to get up and pulls the magnet off of the base, then the alarm sounds. These alarms alert the staff that the resident is trying to get up, and the staff then has an obligation to respond to them as quickly as possible so that they can keep them safe. However, the nursing home has to have adequate staffing in order to be able to respond to the residents promptly. If the facility is understaffed, then it is virtually impossible to respond to these residents quickly and keep them safe.
If someone you love is in a nursing home, and they are unable to walk safely on their own, and you are, therefore, counting on the nursing home to provide them with supervision, you need to have a detailed discussion with the staff at the nursing home about how they're going to do this. How are they going to provide your loved one with adequate supervision? How are they going to keep an eye on them when they are in their room? How are they going to keep an eye on them when they are in the dining room or the common area? If they are not using some kind of system of alarms or motion detectors, then you need to ask the staff to clearly explain to you how they are providing your loved one with adequate supervision.
If someone you love has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, please call us at 1-800-OHIO LAW, as we will be happy to talk with you and help you in any way that we can.