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Mom fell at PT today and broke her arm. The PT people said they lowered her safely to the ground but obviously not. She cannot go home now. It was her good arm, and she needs to be able to have one good arm to use the phone, get her water bottle, and eat! So she'll probably have to heal in the hospital or in a NH.


But jesus how can I hold the PT liable?


It is always something. ALWAYS SOMETHING!

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Your mother is 66 years old and suffers from osteoporosis and dementia/cognitive decline. She's had a stroke and was an alcoholic. She is frail. As sad as it is that she fell with PT and broke her good arm, you have to prove negligence. You could always get an ambulance chaser to write a letter and see if it shakes some money loose, but I think the only thing that will achieve is that PT will no longer want to work with her. Pick your battles. Not all falls are preventable. Sometimes they just happen.
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Falls happen all the time when someone is standing right next to them. Not all falls are preventable. Freak accidents happen on occasion.

I am sorry this has happened. I’m sure that it is quite frustrating and stressful for you and your mom.
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My dad could fall with one caregiver supporting him on each side and one person trailing in the back just in case. He’d go limp and down he went while we tried to break the fall. Mom fell many times. If we tried to pick her up, things would happen. For instance, her shoulder would dislocate even though we were most careful. We couldn’t put any pull or pressure on it at all.

Forget trying to prove a case. It won’t get you anywhere, and she’ll fall again anyway.

It’s frustrating, but that’s what old sick people do. Though at 66, she’s hardly old. Her past bad habits have evidently caught up with her. She’s lucky to have a daughter who cares.
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aj: It is indeed always something. I'm so sorry this happened. The others are probably right that a lawsuit would be an uphill battle, but I absolutely understand your wanting to DO something. 
There may be helpful gadgets out there. Maybe try web searching with the phrases "two broken arms" and "how to eat" (for example) just to see what comes up? 
You must be beside yourself with anger. She's there for help and now she's returned to you with her one good arm broken. Un-freaking believable.
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I'm only 61. I fell walking across my bedroom. Nobody was near me. I broke two metatarsals and wrenched my ankle. Reason I'm telling you this is falls happen. To the best of us. Nobody's fault.
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NeedHelpWithMom May 2023
Ouch!
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I wouldn't be surprised if they absolutely were 100% responsible for her fall. They'll invent some story of how it happened, but I bet they were negligent. I see your Mom has dementia. Typical. They can invent whatever story they want about what happened. If there were cameras, they can get rid of the footage.

Not all falls just happen. Sometimes there really is a guilty party who caused it.

But, it's really hard to win a court case, even when one is right. No matter what the court case, one has a 50/50 chance of winning/losing. Justice doesn't always prevail. Sometimes, the judge just ate a bad breakfast that morning and you lose. The justice system is very unreliable.

If you don't need that particular PT company's services anymore, then write a bad review, warning future customers. If you really feel you have a very strong case, then speak to a lawyer. But remember, it's 50/50 in court. Try asking the PT company, without mentioning lawyers yet, whether your Mom can get compensated. They'll probably say no, but try. They'll do everything they can, to say they had nothing to do with the fall.
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aj6044 May 2023
Its vascular dementia from a stroke. It doesn't get worse but she is legally competent and she is claiming she was not lowered right.
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I get you are angry.
but please try to lose the blame.

Your Mom fell. It is not usually possible to stop a falling person once their body is going down. A chair may be near enough to land in, but not always.

Lowering to the floor is the SAFEST thing to do.

Direct your energies into finding the right care environment for your Mom until her arm heals.
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Im sorry this happened to your mom. Call a personal injury attorney and get a free consultation. Most won't take on a case they feel isn't neglect.
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I can't read your previous posts for some reason. ? Anyway, your profile says that your mother lives alone. Are you her caregiver? Sounds like it's been difficult for you (people don't usually participate in this forum if it's been easy and wonderful).

Will you get a break while she heals somewhere else other than home? Could that be the cloud's silver lining for you? And if you've been trying to get her into a facility permanently, could this be the crisis that makes that happen?
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Riverdale May 2023
Try looking at previous messages that are not PM ones going back to at least 2018.
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Well, you *are* holding the PTs responsible, without much apparent interest in whether they were or not.

Your mother has osteoporosis. You weren't there at the session and you didn't see what happened, but because your mother now has a broken arm, in addition to whatever she needed the therapy for in the first place, you reason that someone must be to blame and should be made to pay for it.

It ain't necessarily so.
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CTTN55 May 2023
"Try looking at previous messages that are not PM ones going back to at least 2018."

That's what I tried to do, and they are grayed-out. At first I thought it might have been my computer at home, but I am now at our office and it's the same thing.
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During 5+ years of impeccable care, my mother fell out of bed despite safety measures that I KNEW were in place, and broke her wrist.

I knew she was a fall risk, (that was one of the major reasons why she was IN RESIDENTIAL CARE) I was notified, her wrist was casted, I accepted the explanation of her caregivers, life went on.

If you’ve concluded that she was “obviously not” treated judiciously, organize your provable evidence and contact the best lawyer you can find.

You have to answer your own question (But Jesus…..?) before you can develop a credible case.

Where do you want to go with this?
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I believe it is negligent maybe not on PTs part but the referring physician. I told them specifically that she isn't weight bearing and they said it wasn't in the referral... The referring physician knows she can't transfer. We use a lift at his practice to get her on the bed... They tried doing a stand pivot transfer on the 2nd day of PT without doing any strength building knowing my mom hasn't stood on her own in well over 2 years since she became wheelchair bound. I also told them she requires a hoyer.

Then they kept comparing her to a similar patient and how that patient can do transfers. I stopped them in their tracks with that one. It's not fair to my mom and one patients journey doesn't necessarily reflect another's.

I am 100% not surprised she fell. They did an advanced exercise with no build up to it.
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ventingisback May 2023
That's what I said: I wouldn't be surprised if they absolutely were 100% responsible for her fall. They'll invent some story of how it happened, but I bet they were negligent. No one ever wants to admit they're legally liable.

They, meaning the referring physician, whoever...
Basically, there was negligence. People cut corners, do sloppy jobs sometimes...

The only thing I warned you about, is that, even when one is right, one can lose in court. And sometimes lawyers, ambulance chasers, are also crooks, taking money and giving false hope that one can win. All that said, sometimes one does win.
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I'm curious about what kind of PT she was supposed to be receiving? Isn't it standard practice to go over the care plan?
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I don’t know which state your mom is living in, but in New Jersey one CAN sue a facility if an injury occurred in their facility. My neighbor was in a hospital in New Jersey when he fell and broke his leg and his family sued the hospital and won a settlement.
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ventingisback May 2023
Great he won!
Anyone can sue anyone in any state. The question is whether you’ll win.

OP maybe you should give it a shot. It’s really up to you. It’ll take money, time…and no guarantee of winning, even when one is right.

If you do win OP that would be fantastic!
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Hi AJ, so sorry this happened to your mom. “…a stand pivot transfer on the 2nd day of PT after not walking for over 2 years??? Seems kind of asinine to me.” I agree with you 100 percent. My MIL has been bedbound for 1 1/2 years. I can’t imagine PT trying to get her to do that level of maneuvering on the 2nd day! What were they thinking??
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cwillie May 2023
I agree, the level of miscommunication that allowed this to happen seems over the top
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Im deciding not to do anything legally to the PT company at this time. Mom wants to continue there when she gets better, and I gotta respect that.
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For some reason I thought your mom was in a NH already. Did u bring her home from a facility?
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aj6044 May 2023
Shes been out of a facility since 2020. She "escaped" when my dad was still alive and has home health ever since
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