Dropped Patient

Nursing home residents often experience difficulty moving from one place to another. As such, nurses and medical assistants will help them reposition to and from their beds, chairs, wheelchairs, and bathrooms. Unfortunately, if such transfers are not performed carefully, the patient may be dropped, which can lead to significant physical trauma. If you or a loved one suffered injuries due to a negligently executed transfer in a nursing home, you might be able to recover money damages from the parties responsible for your harm, and you should contact an attorney to discuss your potential claims. Valerie Crown, of The Law Firm of Valerie J. Crown, Attorney at Law, P.C., is a skilled Rockland County nursing home negligence lawyer with ample experience handling dropped patient cases, and if she represents you, she will fight to help you seek the justice you deserve. Ms. Crown regularly helps people pursue compensation in nursing home negligence lawsuits in Rockland, Orange, Westchester, Dutchess, and Ulster Counties and in the greater metropolitan area.

Many nursing home patients have health issues that affect their balance or mobility, making it challenging for them to get in and out of bed or move from a bed to a chair or wheelchair into a bathroom. Such patients will usually need help from a nurse or aide to change locations. If the nursing home staff, helping a patient move, fails to exercise appropriate care, they may drop the patient. Older individuals, who are dropped, often sustain serious injuries such as fractures, contusions, lacerations, and hemorrhages. Tragically, in some instances the injuries, dropped patients sustain, ultimately prove to be fatal.

State and federal laws aim to ensure the health and safety of nursing home residents by setting certain standards for their care. Among other things, the regulations demand that nursing homes must employ a sufficient number of trained staff members. If a nursing home fails to abide by the parameters set by the regulations and a patient suffers harm as a result, the nursing home may be deemed negligent and may be held accountable for the patient’s pain and suffering.

Under New York law a plaintiff, seeking to demonstrate the negligence of a nursing home, must first show that the nursing home owed the plaintiff a duty. Generally, a nursing home has the duty to provide care commensurate with the standards established by the state and federal regulations. Next, the plaintiff needs to prove that the nursing home departed from that standard—thereby, breaching the duty owed. Last, the plaintiff has to prove that the nursing home’s breach of the owed duty caused the plaintiff’s injury and subsequent harm. For example, if the standard of care requires two nursing home staffers to transfer a patient from a bed to a chair, and a dropped patient incident occurred when one staff member attempted to complete a transfer, the plaintiff can arguably demonstrate causation.

As the precise duties, imposed on nursing homes, are beyond the understanding of most people, the plaintiff will most likely need to retain an expert to testify at trial as to the standard of care required of the nursing home and the manner in which the nursing home failed to uphold that standard.

Nursing home residents rely on nurses and staff members to help them safely transfer from one location to another, but if transfers are not performed with care, a patient may be dropped and substantially injured. If you or your loved one has suffered injuries in a nursing home, it is in your best interest to talk to a lawyer about your rights. Valerie Crown, of The Law Firm of Valerie J. Crown, Attorney at Law, P.C., is an experienced Rockland County lawyer who takes pride in helping people, hurt by nursing home negligence, protect their interests. If you engage her services, she will zealously pursue the best legal result possible under the facts of your case. Ms. Crown’s office is located in New York, and she frequently assists people in lawsuits arising out of nursing home negligence in Rockland, Westchester, Orange, Dutchess, and Ulster Counties and in the greater metropolitan area. You can reach Ms. Crown through the form online or by calling 845-708-5900 (office number) or 845-598-8253 (Valerie’s direct cellphone 24/7).