Tampa Broken Bones Attorney
Nursing Home Neglect Attorney Helping Families with Broken Bones Claims
Nursing home residents and their families should be able to expect that the nursing facility will provide an adequate quality of care so that preventable accidents and injuries do not happen. However, seniors in nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Florida routinely suffer serious injuries as a result of nursing home abuse and neglect. Broken bones are a common type of injury that affect nursing residents. In some cases, broken bones result from a fall that occurred because of nursing home neglect. In other situations, a staff member or nurse who handles a patient too roughly may cause a fracture.
If you or someone you love sustained a broken bone injury in a Florida nursing home, you should not hesitate to discuss your case with a compassionate Tampa nursing home abuse & neglect attorney.
Understanding Broken Bone Injuries in Tampa
According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), broken bones are another phrase commonly used to describe fractures. There are numerous ways that bones can sustain complete or partial fractures, and the consequences vary depending upon the specific type of break. The AAOS underscores that the severity of a broken bone depends largely upon the force that caused the bone to break.
Sometimes bones only crack, while other times they “break all the way through.” In the worst cases, bones can shatter, and fragments can come out through the person’s skin. When an object penetrates the body and causes a broken bone, doctors refer to this as an “open fracture.” This type of injury is especially serious because it can lead to infection in the wound and deeper into the bone.
How Do Broken Bone Injuries Happen in Nursing Homes?
Broken bone injuries can happen in a Tampa nursing home in a wide variety of ways. In most cases, accidents happen and patients break bones because they are not properly supervised. For example, slips and falls easily can lead to fractures. At the same time, a patient can break a bone as a result of physical abuse at the hands of a nursing home staff member. The following are common causes of broken bone cases in nursing homes:
- Falls from heights (such as falling out of a bed);
- Slips and falls (such as slipping and falling while walking);
- Improper use of restraints; and
- Physical abuse.
A study in American Family Physician suggests that about 90 percent of broken bone injuries in nursing homes result from falls. The following are frequent causes of falls in nursing homes:
- Wet floors;
- Poor lighting;
- Tripping hazards in walkways;
- Rough carpet or flooring;
- Inadequate or missing bedrails;
- Inadequate or missing rails in the shower; and
- Medication that limits the patient’s ability to walk.
Contact a Tampa Nursing Home Neglect Attorney
Nobody should have to suffer a broken bone injury in a nursing home. These injuries are particularly serious for seniors, who often lose mobility and can be at risk of serious or life-threatening infection as a result of a fracture. To learn more about filing a claim, you should speak with a Tampa nursing home neglect lawyer as soon as possible. Contact Kohn Law for more information about the services we provide.
