I guess when it comes to elder care, many problems encountered by residents in U.S. nursing homes sadly seem to make their way across the border to our friends in Canada. The recent news report of an elderly Canadian nursing home resident who fell and fractured her hip– yet sat for days without medical attention or adequate pain medication is an unfortunate story unnecessarily repeated on a daily basis at nursing homes across the world.

In the U.S., upon learning of a fall or other injury, the nursing home staff must conduct an assessment to ensure no injury was sustained. In cases where there is an apparent injury, the staff physician should alerted immediately as to the incident.

Once a physical assessment has been completed, federal law requires nursing homes to provide pain medication to the resident as soon as feasible. As recipients of Medicare funding (the overwhelming majority of nursing homes) must comply with F-Tag 309 pertaining to Quality of Care:

A nursing home negligence lawsuit has been filed against Stearns Nursing and Rehabilitation Center after a 95-year-old resident fell on multiple occasions and suffered hip fractures. The lawsuit alleges that the facility failed to implement fall precautions despite the fact the facility knew the resident suffered from Alzheimer’s, was generally confused and considered to be a ‘high fall risk’.

The lawsuit claims, Stearns suffered multiple falls resulting in injuries during her admission from May 25th through July 7, 2007. In particular, the lawsuit alleges the following specific incidents:

On May 27, the resident wandered the hallways, unattended, and fell fracturing her left hip.

Lawyer Resources for Fractures

Nursing Home Patient With Broken Hip Sits In Pain. Why Federal Law Requires Staff To Administer Pain Medication

Nursing Home Sued After Resident Fractures Both Hips In Separate Falls