Preventing falls is a major focus of medical facilities across the country, including those in Kentucky. Physical therapists, in particular, focus on the mobility and strength of patients in order to encourage independence. Recently, in another state, a man was awarded a monetary settlement in his medical malpractice lawsuit following a fall that resulted in a serious injury.
The events that led to the man’s fall and injury began with a stroke. He was treated in Oct. 2011 at a hospital for the acute symptoms of his stroke. While he was in the hospital, he was labeled as a patient with a high risk for falls and required a walker to ambulate safely. Once he was discharged to home in the middle of October, he was sent to an outpatient clinic to continue his physical therapy.
While attending the outpatient clinic, he informed the therapists that he had fallen twice at home. In addition to the knowledge of the falls, his therapist noticed that he was shaking more when using his walker than previously. Despite his frail state, when he returned for more therapy, he was asked to walk behind a therapist from the waiting room with no assistance offered. As a result he lost his balance, fell and hit his head. He was transferred to a nearby medical facility and diagnosed with subdural hematoma.
The man no longer lives independently. Instead he depends on assistance to sit, use the restroom and other simple daily activities that he could perform on his own before the fall. The civil court jury awarded the man $2.5 million for his suffering and care after examining the evidence in his medical malpractice lawsuit. Patients in Kentucky who have suffered similar falls and injuries due to hospital or practioner negligence could benefit from speaking to an experienced attorney about their litigation options in civil court.
Source:Â heraldbulletin.com, “Jury awards man $2.5M in lawsuit against local hospital“, Ken de la Bastide, April 11, 2017