Sue Facility For Broken Hip??

Specialties Geriatric

Published

I am a nurse at an Adult Daycare and we had a Client fall while in our care and break his hip. The family specifically said he is independent while ambulating with his cane but he became unsteady while standing and fell. The aide was within 15ft from him and unable to prevent this fall. Well, now the grandson wants to see the incident report. I am so worried that he is planning on suing our facility. I feel so horrible and have apologized several times. Should I be worried and can he sue us for negligence?

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

I believe that incident reports are NOT part of the "medical record" .In LTC (very different from your day care situation,I realize) I have had a family member demand to see an incident report and this was denied.Family members will make all kinds of threats-sometimes if they really don't have a case they won't find a lawyer willing to waste everyone's time.But now and then you'll see some shyster get involved and companies will often settle out of court just to stop the noise.Good Luck-it does not sound like your were negligent-but you and your company need some legal advice

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If the grandson desires to see an incident report he will need to hire an attorney. The attorney will then ask the facility to produce the documents. The facility SHOULD have a policy that the incident reports are confidential.

Anyone can sue for anything. However certain elements must be satisfied by law in order to have a case. An attorney will not take a case unless everything can be proven and even then won't generally take cases unless fairly large quantities of money will be involved.

Not knowing any other facts but what you have posted, it sounds like there is nothing that will indicate liability issues and the chances of the guy finding a lawyer to sue are low. Unless your facility has a history of problems with falls/supervision/etc. it is unlikely that they will be able to prove a pattern of problems either.

Stop apologizing. The more that you apologize and act nervous, the more the grandson will try to look for things that are wrong. Once you explain what happened and offer the apology, there is no further need to continue groveling. Oftentimes people sue just because they feel like everything is being kept secret. As long as they have been told the truth, they often are satisfied. If the grandson continues to bother you or other staff you need to have a name and number of a supervisor type person that they need to contact. Be nice but firm and tell them that you have already told them the situation and if they have further concerns, feel free to contact Joe Blow at 555-5555.

Relax! Accidents happen. As long as you are proactive in preventing as many as possible and make sure and document, you will be ok.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

Do you use care plans in your adult day? If the family told you he was independent then it sounds like it was an accident. People sue you every day but that doesn't mean they have a case or that you did anything wrong. We had a lady who refused alarms and refused PT. She was a 1 person assist with a gate belt. One day she decided to transfer herself,fell, and broke her hip. The daughter decided to sue us. Well, of course I had reported the fall to the DPH. The daughter filed a complaint about a multitude of things (including the fact that she didn't like her mom's hair). So, the surveyor came out and investigated. She couldn't find any fault with what we did (always document document document). Once the DPH could find no fault, the woman decided not to sue us.

Good luck

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Stop apologizing. The more that you apologize and act nervous, the more the grandson will try to look for things that are wrong. Once you explain what happened and offer the apology, there is no further need to continue groveling. Oftentimes people sue just because they feel like everything is being kept secret. As long as they have been told the truth, they often are satisfied. If the grandson continues to bother you or other staff you need to have a name and number of a supervisor type person that they need to contact. Be nice but firm and tell them that you have already told them the situation and if they have further concerns, feel free to contact Joe Blow at 555-5555.

Relax! Accidents happen. As long as you are proactive in preventing as many as possible and make sure and document, you will be ok.

exactly, stop apologizing immediately....you can express caring about this gentleman without expressing a feeling of responsiblity for his injury..which gives the appearance of guilt....which is why defendants in court cases are told by their attornies not to communicate with the complainant.....good luck

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And just in case someone sues www.nso.com.

And lest you think the facility has YOUR interests at heart, think again. They'll cover their own butts while hanging yours out to dry in a heartbeat.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept.

Incident Reports are NOT a legal document and I don't believe the hospital ever releases them. The family (if they have poa or the patient's consent) can get a copy of the patient's chart and the information charted about the event in there, but not the incident report.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

One thing to remember is to never document on the chart that an incident report was made, that's a big no no.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Getting sued? You've got to be kidding!

Unless the patient is profoundly injured or dead as a result of something you did (or failed to do), this is not lawsuit material. Few lawyers in existence would waste any time on a case that involved a man who fell when he was determined to be ambulatory without assistance. He broke a hip, but these things occur every single day, and it would be too difficult to prove who is at fault.

This is not a lawsuit-worthy issue. You may wish to take a course in nursing and the law just to become assured regarding what patients and families can and cannot sue for. In order for someone to sue, he must have a cause of action. So if you or the facility have not been found guilty of a tort (civil wrong), then any action to sue you or the facility would probably be dismissed if it ever was filed. Personal injury suits are extremely risky and tremendously expensive for lawyers, so generally they do not take the case unless there is a clear cause of action and a large amount of monetary recovery is likely.

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It's not likely that he fell and then broke his hip. With old people it is much more likely their hip breaks and this is what causes them to fall.

I seriously doubt the family would have a case in the situation you describe.

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