Patient fell and died a few days later, was it my fault?

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Specializes in NICU.

What is this with "order's"? Do doctors over there really "order" nurses to do something? Is there no team work, don't nurses have any autonomy? Wow that's unreal!

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Ummm. Yea, doctors order nurses to do things all the time. Anyways, the incident is done now. Don't beat yourself up about what you could have done. You can learn from it so your actions will be better next time. Wrong or right, the bottom line is you were trying to help this person. Sorry this happened to you.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Flight.
Yeah, I'd say it was your fault for 1) Allowing the patient to get out of bed (If she got out of bed by her self when you weren't there, you wouldn't be held responsible) and 2) Helping her go to the bathroom by your self when you knew you wouldn't be able to hold her.

I'm sorry if it sounds harsh but its the truth, this is the reason nursing homes must prefer male CNAs?

This among the worst post I have ever seen anyone make, please do not take this seriously. It seems to say that if you knew the pt was going to get up themselves you should just let them do it when your not there, and then its not your fault. As the primary nurse you ARE responsible for a pt fall, even if they do it when you are not in the room. You were doing what you though was in the pts. best interest and trying to keep them safe. If the pt fell without you present, it would have likely been a much worse fall.

Keep in mind that the post fall head CT was negative. This pt was in the hospital for a coagulation issue and may have developed a spontaneous bleed completely unrelated to the bathroom incident. Talk with your charge nurse or the docs and let them know your concerns. Don't let uniformed snap judgments weigh on you, its difficult enough just to think you might have been responsible. As someone already said, don't assume responsibility for this, especially without the rest of the story.

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Specializes in ICU.

Yes, don't beat yourself up over it. You advised the patient to not get out of bed and offered the bedpan/urinal. Being stubborn, he refused and was probably determined to get up no matter what you said. You did the best you could at the time and if you weren't there, it would have happened to someone else. Welcome to nursing. :bugeyes:

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Specializes in Critical Care.
Yeah, I'd say it was your fault for 1) Allowing the patient to get out of bed (If she got out of bed by her self when you weren't there, you wouldn't be held responsible) and 2) Helping her go to the bathroom by your self when you knew you wouldn't be able to hold her.

I'm sorry if it sounds harsh but its the truth, this is the reason nursing homes must prefer male CNAs?

I do not know what land you live in, but you are SO very wrong. If the patient had gotten out of bed when the nurse wasn't there the nurse most certainly would have been held responsible. I have seen nurses held responsible for patients getting out of bed and the patient wasnot even their patient.

This nurse did the best thing possible and stayed with the patient when her judgement was that the patient would get up on their own anyway. Her being there with the patient prevent the fall from being even more severe. Kudos to that nurse for doing that! :yeah:

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Specializes in med surg.
Yeah, I'd say it was your fault for 1) Allowing the patient to get out of bed (If she got out of bed by her self when you weren't there, you wouldn't be held responsible) and 2) Helping her go to the bathroom by your self when you knew you wouldn't be able to hold her.

I'm sorry if it sounds harsh but its the truth, this is the reason nursing homes must prefer male CNAs?

This, my friend, is the worse post I have seen. TS used her Nursing judgement in that specific situation. And IMHO she did the right thing as the situation dictated. She tried to offer patient a bed pan and patient still insisted on going to BR. I am quite positive that the moment TS turned her back, patient would have tried to get up and injured himself worse. About the only way to stop such patients would have been restraints, which in this situation is uncalled for. TS did the right thing by assisting patient to the BR. After the incident, CT scan was performed and came back negative. This is an objective data that absolves TS. And if you know Thrombocytopenia, you should know that one of its biggest side effect is brain hemorrhage, which is exactly what happened to patient. I am sure that incident has nothing to do with the patients death. The fact that the facility hasnt called TS attention is a testament to this. If there is something I can suggest, maybe TS should haf asked someone to assist her in helping patient to BR. It appears the patient is too big/heavy for her.

Anyway to TS, hang in there. I am sorry this has to happen to you. But I assure you it can happen to any one of us. What is more important is that u learn something out of this. I can understand how u are feeling atm. I would haf felt the same way if I was in your shoes. And as someone said earlier, just keep quiet about the entire thing. Stop acting "guilty" in any way. You did what the situation called for. Your heart is in the right place.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Yeah, I'd say it was your fault for 1) Allowing the patient to get out of bed (If she got out of bed by her self when you weren't there, you wouldn't be held responsible) and 2) Helping her go to the bathroom by your self when you knew you wouldn't be able to hold her.

I'm sorry if it sounds harsh but its the truth, this is the reason nursing homes must prefer male CNAs?

Please do not take this post seriously. If you will do a search for OP's other recent posts, you will understand why this would not be the mst enlightened viewpoint.

You used great nursing judgment in determining that the patient would have managed to somehow drag himself t the BR alone, as soon as you left the room. These type of situations do stay with us.....

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Are you guys reading the OP correctly?? The patient did NOT get up by himself! She (THE OP) helped the patient to the bathroom because she KNEW he would of gotten up = IT WAS NOT THE PATIENT'S CHOICE TO WALK TO THE BATHROOM, HE EXPECTED A COMMODE *AS ORDERED*

The OP did not get a commode from another floor/central supply

The OP did not get a PCT or CNA after finally deciding to allow patient to WALK to the bathroom

The OP did not call for assistance when Pt had hard time to get on it initially

The OP did not call for assistance when the Pt fell to the floor hit his bottom

The OP did not prevent the fall

The cause of death is *DRUM ROLL* - brain hemorrhage, NOT DIC or Cardiac Arrest!

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A fall related death can result in a coroner's investigation, seek legal advice and do not discuss the matter in public.

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Specializes in Peri-op/Sub-Acute ANP.

I'm not going to get into whose fault I think this was - you've had a lot of comment on this already and ultimately you will have to come to some internal peace over this in your own time.

My only advice to you at this point would be that you should not assume that because nobody has spoken to you YET over this incidence that they won't be wanting to speak to you at some point in the future. Depending on the laws in the state you are in, the family may have several years to decide whether or not they are going to pursue a legal case over this. I'm not sayint this to frighten you, but you need to make sure that you are as ready for this as you can be. While this incident is fresh in your mind, write down every single detail of that day that you can. Include providers names and approximate times etc as much as you can. Get it all down on paper, now while it is fresh. Even though it seems very vivid to you now, in months to come the details will fade and if something does come of this legally you will have your own reminder. Oh, and don't tell anyone you did this and kept a record. Time to cover your own a--!

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Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

To the OP:

If you've been a nurse for a while, you've had patients fall. I had one on a bedside commode and he threw a seizure (no prior history) and slammed his head on the sink while I was making the bed -- pt had been using the BSC without problems for 2 days prior. I can still hear the "whack" sound his head made. I was lucky, the patient was luckier, and he was fine...turned out the family hadn't told anyone that Uncle "Joe" had "fits." I thought I'd killed they guy right there. Did the same thing you did -- CT, MD, family, etc. What was your option? Restraints? He would have just started yanking against them and maybe his BP would have went up and he'd have had a stroke.

You can't stand in the room all night for someone doing the "war of the bedpan," you told the guy not to get up, you know he was going to get up anyway, and would it have been better if you'd set the alarm and found him face down in a pool of blood with the alarm going off? He had a say in what happened to him, and bears some of the responsibility.

Bad stuff happens, and it's not always our fault. And I suggest you make use of the ignore button, I plan to as soon as I'm done here.

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Specializes in LTC.

I would have done the exact same thing you did in this situation. When someone has to go making them wait for a BSC when they are refusing a bedpan is a massive dignity issue.

I agree with the others, who knows what had happened in the three days before his death. When you transferred him he was stable and had a negative CT. I'm curious if you transferred him to a higher or lower level of care.

And to WKredz5 how rude. Until you've walked a mile in a nurse's shoes you can't really judge the situation.

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