Head Injuries in Nursing Homes: What You Need to Know from a Tampa Attorney
The primary cause of head injuries in nursing homes is falling. It is a reality of aging that the elderly fall more often than younger individuals, and some falls are truly accidental in nature and unpreventable. However, as a Tampa nursing home abuse lawyer understands, many falls are due to the negligence of the nursing home and/or the staff and are very much preventable.
A Tampa Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer on the Causes of Falling
There are two basic reasons nursing home residents fall:
- Staffing issues, which include improper training and insufficient number of staff in consideration of the number of residents
- Failure of the nursing home facility to establish and/or follow proper protocol to ensure the safety of all residents
Specific Examples
Each fall must be investigated and evaluated on its specific facts, but a Tampa nursing home abuse attorney reports the following as recurring:
- Incorrect bed height for the resident’s physical capabilities
- Lack of bed rails
- Allowing the resident to wander
- Poor lighting
- Wet floors
- Overmedication
- Abuse inflicted by the staff or other residents
Brain Injuries
Any fall may involve a trauma to the brain, yet brain injury may result from incidents other than a fall. An experienced Tampa nursing home abuse lawyer reports brain injury may occur in circumstances involving:
- Oxygen deprivation, due to choking or smothering
- Drug overdose
- Lack of supplemental oxygen, if required
- Medication errors
Clearly, as a Tampa nursing home abuse lawyer emphasizes, each of these could be prevented with the proper care one has a right to receive in a nursing home.
Contact a Tampa Nursing Home Abuse Attorney for Legal Advice
The symptoms resulting from a head injury can be difficult to detect, but if your loved one exhibits a dramatic change in behavior or attitude, you need to know why. For all nursing home neglect concerns, call Peter Giroux, a Tampa nursing home abuse lawyer, at (727) 895-5399.