$1.75 Million Hospital Negligence
On March 16, 2015, the Plaintiff, was a 35-year-old woman was admitted to the Defendant Hospital due to an E-coli infection in her right eye and leg. Due to the infection, she was blind in her right eye and had difficulty ambulating due to pain and weakness in her right leg.
It was alleged that the Plaintiff was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) from March 16, 2015 through March 21, 2015. During that time, the Plaintiff required various restraints due to pulling at lines, confusion, and impulsiveness. While in the ICU, her fall risk assessment was always elevated, qualifying her as a “critical” fall risk. In fact, on March 19, 2015, the Plaintiff fell from her bed. Subsequent computed tomography (CT) scan of her head was performed which was negative for any bleed or abnormality.
On March 21, 2015, the Plaintiff was transferred out of the ICU to a telemetry unit. Incredibly, her fall risk assessment score on the day of transfer dropped to 35, although she had been at 75 in the ICU the day before. The Plaintiff alleged that the dramatic, inappropriate reduction in her fall risk score was due to the Defendant Hospital’s personnel’s negligent failure to account for the Plaintiff’s recent fall in the ICU. Had the Defendant Hospital’s personnel accounted for the fall, as required by the standards of care, the Plaintiff would have remained a “critical fall risk.”
Predictably, on March 28, 2015, the Plaintiff fell, violently striking her head. Shortly thereafter, she suffered acute changes in mental status because the fall caused massive, intracranial bleeding with traumatic brain injury.
The March 19, 2015 CT scan of the head and orbit after the first fall, there was no evidence of any trauma or brain injury present. However, the March 29, 2015 head CT scan after the second fall, revealed very serious, critical imaging. The presence of a large, subdural hematoma was obvious as well as diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhage, a right hemi injury, and a left injury shifting left to right.
This case settled for $1,750,000.00.