Time and again, Arkansas nursing home residents fall off their beds, chairs, toilets and other surfaces. Despite as common as they are, they still come with sizeable and serious injuries. Residents break bones, get concussions, and incur other kinds of bodily injuries.
It doesn’t stop there. They also sustain tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills. Therefore, it is critical to understand this problem in a comprehensive manner. To accomplish that objective, we summarized some Arkansas nursing home lawsuits that are centered around patient falls. They should give you a good grasp of how these incidents turn into litigation and if your accident might as well. If you want to know more about the Arkansas legal system, contact our offices!
Arkansas nursing home fall case. The resident that got harmed in this incident did not have a history of falls. In fact, he was quite healthy for his age and did not have any pre-existing conditions that affected his day to day life.
However, one night while he was sleeping, he rolled over out of bed and fractured his elbow. When staff at the nursing home found him, they quickly helped him up and sent him to the emergency room. Doctors at the hospital set his arm and treated him for his injuries.
However, months after the incident, he still suffered from pain and limited range in motion. Therefore, he decided to sue the facility for this accident. He alleged that the home’s negligence was the legal cause of his injuries and sought compensation for the medical bills, disability, and suffering that resulted.
Naturally, the defendant facility objected to these claims. It offered that the man was responsible for his own losses because he was comparatively negligent. Also, it claimed that it did everything it had to under the law.
However, as trial loomed on the horizon, both sides were able to work out a settlement to avoid the lengthy process of court. The man received $100,000 and it was structured for the following amounts:
Arkansas nursing home fall case. This cause of action was so disturbing because it was so avoidable. The resident didn’t fall one time-he fell three times in a span of several weeks. There was some controversy over the exact number of times and precisely when they occurred but we know that he fell at least three times.
He was seventy-four, diabetic, and experiencing complications from other serious medical problems. However, this didn’t excuse the fact that the nursing home failed to create a plan of care for him to prevent him from falling.
Additionally, it didn’t equip his bed with rails and install other safety mechanisms to keep him safe. Many of these oversights were uncovered as the man’s representatives investigated the circumstances of his accidents.
However, many others were not because the nursing home proved obstinate and did not easily cooperate with them. Therefore, they had to file a lawsuit against the facility in order to force it to give them what they needed. The complaint stated that the nursing home was negligent in its care of him and that it should pay him compensation for this negligence.
The defendant refused at first but soon budged when the prospect of trial appeared imminent. He received $500,000 and that value is striking because of these points:
Arkansas nursing home fall case. The nursing home resident that fell in this situation was just trying to use the washroom. After ringing the nurses on staff several times, she eventually decided to go by herself despite being primarily confined to a wheelchair.
She was eighty-seven at the time of the accident. In the middle of using the facilities, she fell down and injured herself. She sustained a concussion, broken arm, and various other personal injuries. On the advice of counsel, she decided to sue the nursing home where she lived for negligence.
She sought compensation for the medical bills, pain, and long-term disability that the incident caused her. The nursing home thought that it was blameless. It first alleged that she was impatient and negligent herself. Then, it tried to dismiss the woman’s claims as fictitious or erroneous.
However, the matter still moved rapidly to trial and it began to reexamine its chances at court. It offered $250,000 and the plaintiff accepted. The settlement money was divided in the following way:
Arkansas nursing home fall case. This Arkansas case started as a claim over a fall but ended up being about a lot more than that. The resident involved was in his middle eighties and relatively healthy for his age.
However, three times in one week alone he fell out of his bed. He broke several bones and eventually needed to be transferred to a hospital for treatment. Just a few weeks later, he passed away from the injuries he sustained in the falls.
He was survived by a wife, children, and grandchildren. Together they filed a cause of action against the nursing home where he fell for negligence and wrongful death. They claimed that the defendant facility was negligent in its failure to provide bed rails, supervision, or care.
The defendant filed a reply in Arkansas court but quickly set up a process to settle the matter privately and confidentially. The plaintiffs received $1,000,000 and this value was interesting for the following reasons:
Arkansas nursing home fall case. The nursing home where these events took place was almost immediately in hot water because the problem was foreseen by the resident’s doctor.
The physician instructed staff at the facility that he was a high risk for falls because he was recovering from surgery and lacked significant mobility. The procedure he had was to replace a hip and he moved to the nursing home for extended care and supervision.
Obviously, he didn’t get it. He fell out of bed twice. After the second fall, he was taken to the emergency room. Doctors had to redo a lot of the work that was done in the original hip replacement procedure.
The problems didn’t stop there. He really couldn’t walk again after these events without significant pain. He sued the nursing home to recover for this pain and expenses. His suit alleged that its care to him was deficient and led to his injuries.
Therefore, it was obligated to pay him for these damages. The nursing home refused but not for long. It gave him $1,500,000 which makes sense if you consider the following:
Arkansas nursing home fall case. This incident rolled off rather innocently at first but the resident turned out to be very injured in the end. He was sixty-eight at the time.
What happened was that he was being wheeled to the dining room for dinner when he fell right off and injured himself. He tried to brace the fall with his hands but that actually made the matter worse.
He broke his wrist and several bones in his hands. The doctors were able to set them properly but he was left with significant pain and suffering. He sued the nursing home where he was living at the time of accident.
He sought damages for the medical bills, disability, and harm that resulted from the incident. The basis of his claim was that the facility was negligent in its supervision of him and should have ensured that he did not fall and harm himself.
The defendant nursing home responded that it acted appropriately and that the incident was actually caused by the plaintiff’s negligence. However, these competing theories were never tested in court because both sides ended the matter in settlement just before the start of trial.
The man received $50,000 which was doled out in the following fashion:
Arkansas nursing home fall case. Staff at this nursing home lost the resident and didn’t find him for nearly three hours. The man was in his late seventies and suffering from dementia and other mental problems that rendered him incapable of taking care of himself.
He was sent to the nursing home in the first place because he required constant care and supervision. However, on one early morning, he slipped out of the facility and wandered around the neighborhood. At some point, he fell and injured himself.
Doctors determined later that he suffered a concussion. He had to stay at the hospital for treatment but slipped into a coma and died not long after the incident took place. He was survived by several family members and they chose to file a lawsuit against the nursing home for damages.
They sought compensation for his wrongful death and argued that its negligence was the legal cause of his passing. It denied that this was the case and argued in the alternative that the man contributed to his own harms. However, realizing its blatant mistakes, it decided to arrange a settlement and the family received $750,000. Here are some insights into this nursing home settlement value:
Arkansas nursing home fall case. The resident that got injured in this affair was already extremely sick and handicapped. He was sixty-seven, diabetic, and experiencing symptoms of other health problems.
The trouble that led to this Arkansas nursing home settlement was when staff attempted to bring him to another care facility in order to receive various treatments including for his diabetes. When they got him there, they tried transferring him to a bed but messed up and dropped him.
He braced his fall with his hands and broke his wrist and several other bones. They took him right to the hospital where he physicians inspected him and treated him. Soon after he was admitted to the emergency room, he was sent back to the original nursing home.
He consulted an attorney regarding the facts and circumstances of what happened and decided to bring a lawsuit to recover for the injuries that resulted. He asked for compensation from the nursing home as well as the care facility where it occurred.
His claims against the care facility went to court but those against the nursing home were settled prior to trial for $25,000 and that settlement value was prescribed for the following amounts:
Arkansas nursing home fall case. This Arkansas fall case was interesting because it started off as a fight which soon led to one of the nursing home residents falling down and injuring himself. Two residents got into an altercation and one of the facility’s staff stepped in to resolve the matter but accidentally shoved one of the guys to the ground.
It was immediately apparent that he was seriously harmed so they sent him right to the emergency room. At that location, physicians discerned that he had a concussion. They prescribed him medication, gave him a plan of care, and then dismissed him from the ER.
However, he didn’t go back to the original nursing home. Rather, he went to a new facility and sued the first one where it all took place. He alleged that the combined negligence and intentional torts of the other resident, nursing home, and its employees led to his harms and that they owed him compensation as a matter of law.
They all basically shot back with the same defense: contributory negligence. However, the nursing home didn’t want to get mired in a protracted legal battle so it offered to settle and he accepted. His nursing home settlement compensation was $75,000 which was noteworthy because of the following:
Arkansas nursing home fall case. This dispute involved a number of medical issues because the victim was so infirm and elderly. At the time of the event that kicked off the nursing home lawsuit, she was ninety-one.
She had several mental conditions, she could hardly walk, and she was experiencing other problems that affected her on a day to day basis. However, on the day in question, she was supposed to be transferred to a local hospital for advanced screening and care.
What ended up happening was that she fell down and injured herself, worsening many of the issues that she already had. On top of that, nursing home staff didn’t find her for several hours later. When they finally rusher her to the hospital, it was too late.
She passed away later that day. She was survived by several children and grandchildren. They brought a lawsuit against the nursing home and a third-party administrative consulting company that was servicing the home at the time. Their lawsuit contended that they were negligent in their care of her and that this was the legal reason why she died.
They settled with the consulting company prior to trial so the only claim they had when the case began was against the nursing home. It argued that her pre-existing injuries were why she died though it admitted a certain amount of negligence.
This admission may have been all the jury needed because it awarded the family $1,200,000 in damages which is surprising because of the following:
Here are some critical points that you should remember when dealing with nursing home fall cases:
The attorneys at Nursing Home Law News can assist you in seeking recovery if your family member fell in an Arkansas nursing home. Fall injuries are never easy to deal with but with our team can make sure you have every resource at your disposal to obtain relief. Plus, we will work for you on contingency so that you only need to pay if you’re happy with the outcome! Just call us today! Your recovery is waiting for you!
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