Hospital Ignored Fall Precautions, Patient Suffered Brain Injury: Ohio Jury Awards $6.19 Million

Published October 26, 2023 · Verdicts & Settlements

A man is admitted to the hospital and started on several new medications. He gets up to use the restroom, falls, and hits his head. The fall causes a traumatic brain injury and bleeding in the brain, and he goes home permanently disabled. Hospital falls like this one are among the most preventable injuries in medicine, and a few weeks ago an Erie County jury made a Sandusky hospital pay for one.

What was reported

According to a press release issued on October 2, 2023, by the plaintiff's attorneys, a jury in the Erie County Court of Common Pleas awarded $6.19 million to Michael Johnson against Firelands Hospital in Sandusky. The Sandusky Register also reported the verdict under the headline "Jury: Hospital must pay $6M."

The release, which presents the plaintiff's side of the case, describes the facts this way:

• While a patient at Firelands, Mr. Johnson was started on seven new medications that increased his risk of falling.
• The release says nurses and staff did not follow the fall-prevention precautions that applied to him.
• He fell while getting up to use the restroom and suffered a traumatic brain injury that caused a brain bleed.
• He was left with permanent injuries and, according to the release, is now confined to a chair at home. The release notes that the injury also affected his wife, Melissa.

The case was tried before Judge Roger E. Binette. The plaintiff's firm described the award as the largest in that judge's courtroom and the second-largest medical-malpractice verdict in Erie County. As with any recent verdict, post-trial motions and appeals are possible, and the verdict should not be understood as final or paid. Our office was not involved in the case.

Why hospital falls are preventable

Hospitals know which patients are likely to fall. Age, weakness, confusion, recent surgery and, above all, medications that cause dizziness, drowsiness or low blood pressure all raise the risk. Sedatives, opioid pain medications, sleep aids and some blood-pressure drugs are common culprits, and starting several at once multiplies the danger.

That is why hospitals routinely assess each patient's fall risk on admission and again when the patient's condition or medications change. A patient identified as high risk is supposed to receive protections that match the risk, which can include:

• bed and chair alarms that alert staff when the patient gets up;
• scheduled help to the bathroom, so the patient is not tempted to go alone;
• a call light within reach and a prompt response when it is used;
• a low bed, non-slip footwear and a clear path; and
• closer observation, especially at night and after new medications are given.

None of this is exotic. When a high-risk patient falls during an unassisted trip to the restroom, the questions in a lawsuit are straightforward: was the risk assessed, were the precautions ordered, and were they actually carried out? The answers are usually in the hospital's own records: the fall-risk assessments, the nursing notes, the medication administration record, the call-light logs and the incident report.

We discussed how hospital-negligence claims are proven in an earlier post on bedsores and "never events", and the same principle applies here: the hospital's own policies often define the standard it failed to meet.

What a jury can award for a permanent brain injury

The reported verdict did not break the $6.19 million into categories, so we will not guess at how the jury divided it. But a verdict for a permanent brain injury in Ohio is built from the same categories of damages in every case:

• Medical expenses, past and future. A brain injury that leaves someone chair-bound can require years of therapy, medications, equipment, home modifications and attendant care. Ohio does not cap economic damages.
• Lost income and earning capacity, when the injured person can no longer work as before.
• Pain and suffering and mental anguish, the physical and emotional toll of the injury and the recovery.
• Loss of enjoyment of life, the activities, independence and ordinary pleasures the injury took away.
• Loss of consortium, a separate claim belonging to a spouse for the loss of companionship, help and partnership in the marriage.

Claims against hospitals and medical providers are subject to their own filing deadlines and limits on noneconomic damages, with higher limits for permanent and catastrophic injuries. We explained how those medical-claim limits work in July, in our post on the $7.6 million Cleveland Clinic paralysis verdict. For an overview of damages in Ohio, see What Your Case Is Worth.

The brain injury itself has to be proven

A brain bleed shows up on a scan. The lasting effects often do not. Memory problems, slowed thinking, personality changes and fatigue are what change a family's life, and they must be documented through treating physicians, neuropsychological testing, and the observations of the people who live with the injured person every day.

In August we wrote about documenting concussion and TBI symptoms after a crash. Everything in that post applies equally to a brain injury from a fall in a hospital: keep a dated record of symptoms, report every change to the treating doctors, and ask family members to write down specific examples of what is different.

What this means for you

If a family member fell in a hospital, rehabilitation center or nursing facility and suffered a head injury, fracture or other serious harm:

• Ask for the records now. You are entitled to the medical chart. Request the complete record, including nursing notes and medication records.
• Write down what you were told. Who explained the fall, when, and what they said about how it happened.
• Note the medications. Was the patient recently started on new drugs? Was anyone warned that they increased the risk of falling?
• Do not wait. Claims against medical providers carry shorter deadlines than most injury claims, and building the case requires expert review of the chart before a lawsuit is filed.

Our personal injury practice includes serious-injury claims against hospitals and care facilities throughout the Dayton area.