Illinois Nursing Home Patient Broken Bone Accident Lawyers

Older adults in the Chicago area are often particularly vulnerable to broken bones and the increased potential of acute fractures. Aging individuals 65 years and older, especially women, suffer from various bone diseases, including osteoporosis, where the mineral density of bone is significantly reduced.

The highest number of bone fractures in senior home patients occurs to both men and women 75 years and older.

Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC represents Chicago nursing home patients who have suffered a broken bone while at a facility. Did your loved one sustain a fracture in a home accident as a result of abuse or neglect? If so, let our personal injury lawyers investigate and prosecute the incident without any upfront fees.

Our office has years of experience with nursing home fractured bone cases. Every individual member of the firm is available to provide immediate legal advice on how to move your case forward.

Types of Fractures Sustained by Nursing Home Patients

Broken bones are classified as traumatic fractured bones, stress fractures, or spontaneous breaks. Traumatic bone fractures in nursing home patients are typically the result of a serious fall, with associated trauma. A spontaneous fracture usually refers to a compression fracture that typically occurs without trauma, in the hip or spine. These breaks can happen to nursing home patients who have osteoporosis when the bones become brittle and weakened.

A stress fracture is a small bone crack that is usually the result of repetitive motion or overuse of the feet and legs. In many nursing home scenarios, stress bone fractures go unnoticed until they become increasingly painful and severe over time.

However, early treatment of stress bone fractures can be crucial to ensure the patient recovers correctly. Because of that, residents of nursing homes suffering from stress fractures should have a modified care plan to ensure the best recovery.

Nursing home facilities must develop an effective care plan to treat a spontaneous fracture properly. The care plan is necessary to ensure that walking is performed correctly to improve the strength of the bone as a practical component in the recovery program.

Over-strenuous walking can exacerbate the condition during the healing process and might contribute to additional fractures.

Negligent Nursing Home Care Leaves Some Patients With Broken Bones

Unfortunately, nursing home facilities are often understaffed or mismanaged. The staff does not always pay close attention to the patient's needs or provide the best methods to prevent broken bones. Also, fractured bones are not always identified quickly or treated as soon as they occur.

In some incidences, the negligent actions of the staff or facility can cause bones to break when the patient falls or performs an inappropriate movement. Some actions of negligence or home abuse include:

 
• If the staff drops a patient when attempting to move or lift her or him (home neglect)
 
• Inadequate staffing at a busy facility
 
• Lack of proper training in handling the patient's mobility requirements
 
• Failing to provide needed physical therapy
 
• Lack of proper supervision, such as accidents with wheelchairs
 
• Inadequate nursing home staff to monitor patients and prevent them from wandering away (home negligence)
 
• Any hazardous condition that leads to a tripping and falling accident resulting in hip fractures, spinal cord injuries, other serious injuries, or wrongful death

Developing and implementing a resident health plan for every patient with osteoporosis ensures patients the proper care they need. This approach will ensure that the best foods are consumed for preventing bone loss.

Every osteoporosis patient menu should include a balance of dairy products, leafy vegetables, tofu, salmon, and almonds, along with other foods that provide adequate supplies of Vitamin D and calcium.

Most importantly, it is essential that the nursing home quickly identify any bone break as soon as it occurs, to provide home patients with proper medical treatment.

Catastrophic Results Related to Elderly Sustaining Broken Bones in Nursing Facilities

Bone breaks can produce catastrophic results, by decreasing home residents' quality of life, creating a dangerous secondary serious medical condition, or causing death. Broken hips and spinal cord injuries must be quickly identified and appropriately treated under the best care.

Even under the best conditions, rehabilitation can take months for full physical and emotional recovery. While healing, the patient often becomes immobile, producing other medical issues, including the development of bedsores and hygiene problems. The failure by the staff might be defined as medical malpractice.

Nursing Center Broken Bone Claims and Awards

$340,000 Illinois Settlement; Nursing Facility Broken Bone Case

The 103-year-old elder abuse plaintiff needed medical attention and hygiene assistance regularly. She entered a nursing center for help to move around her room.

However, because of her frailty, she fell and suffered severe injuries. She broke her hip and fifth metacarpal bone on her right hand. Also, she suffered a fractured neck. As she recuperated from these injuries at the facility, she developed bedsores on her heel.

She sued the nursing facility claiming negligence. Her complaint cited the defendant's facility with negligent care and supervision. She pointed to her injuries, the costs of treatment, and the long-term suffering as proof of negligence. The personal injury claim was settled out of court for a reported $340,000.

$400,000 Illinois Settlement; Nursing Center Broken Bone Case

Here, the victim was a female long-term senior home resident in her middle seventies. Due to her age and infirmity, she needed a lot of help moving around the care facility, using the washroom, changing, and getting out of bed.

Her doctors said that she was a high risk of falling, hip fractures, and injuring herself. To account for this, the staff devised a tailored plan for her care. However, on the day of the accident, a nurse deviated from the prescribed policies and procedures.

The nurse attempted to get the resident into bed without using a gait belt around the woman's waste. As a result, the nurse dropped the resident, who fractured her femur and sustained other personal injuries. The plaintiff sued the facility for negligence and sought compensation for the pain, disability, and expenses that the accident created.

The nursing facility had little defense because evidence showed they did not follow the woman's plan of care. Faced with this reality, the defendant chose to settle. The insurance company gave the woman $400,000 to resolve the claim.

$799,000 Illinois Settlement; Nursing Center Fractured Bone Case

A seven-year-old when brought a civil lawsuit against the in Illinois nursing facility where she resided. Before the unfortunate events of another person running into her with her wheelchair, she enjoyed relatively good health.

The electric wheelchair could reach high speeds. The lawsuit claims that the other person drove the wheelchair recklessly several times before the accident. She had poor muscle control and should not have been driving it herself.

The wheelchair crashed into the elderly resident and caused significant injury, including a broken ankle requiring substantial medical attention. Her medical care costs were extensive. The injuries decreased her standard of living by adding pain and disability.

The victim filed a civil lawsuit against the nursing home when evidence emerged that the staff knew the driver was reckless and took no action. The defendant chose to settle the case out of court. The plaintiff accepted the offer of $799,000 in compensation.

$225,000 Illinois Settlement; Nursing Facility Fractured Bone Case

An eighty-year-old man filed a civil lawsuit against the nursing home where he had lived there for a long time before an accident occurred while he was sleeping on an inflatable bed.

Reports differ as to why he was not resting on a traditional bed. One night, he broke his hip after rolling off the bed. The broken bone required time and care to heal.

His medical expenses totaled more than $100,000. After his healing, he still complained about the pain and limited mobility it caused him. The man filed a civil lawsuit claiming that the nursing home knew he was a risk for falls but did not erect proper safeguards to protect him. He contends that their failure to perform their duties caused him to fall and sustain personal injuries, financial costs, and other losses.

The defendant argued the plaintiff should share some of the blame. However, in the end, the nursing home would not claim that it was blameless for their mistakes and never set up bed rails or similar preventative devices. The attorneys negotiated a $225,000 settlement, which amounted to more than double his medical bills.

Legal Options Available to an Individual or Family Related to a Bone Break in a Chicago Nursing Center

Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers LLC has enjoyed success in dealing with nursing facility negligence cases throughout Illinois. Did you suffer a bone break in a senior home, while under the care of others? If so, it might be the result of negligent actions by the staff and facility. Let us help you obtain financial compensation to cover your losses.

Our lawyers assist Illinois nursing facility abuse victims in their recovery for the suffering, pain, damages, and injuries they have endured. Our legal representation can hold the responsible parties accountable for their actions. Your efforts in seeking justice can save other patients from reckless disregard by staff members in the nursing facility. Call our skilled attorneys at (888) 424-5757 for a free consultation concerning the nursing center abuse claim.

For additional information on the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act, our practice areas, home abuse cases, insurance company settlements, senior home injuries, and sexual abuse involving home patients, look here.