Hospital negligence?

Question

My cousin was in a motorcycle wreck last week that he somehow survived.
His first night in the hospital he was pretty much out of it (he has suffered some memory loss) but his mother wasn't allowed to stay the night with him because of "hospital rules".
Well, apparently he tried to get up out of bed in ICU, and didn't realize everything he was hooked up to and wound up falling over and falling on his face - literally.
Now - he was in ICU and wasn't being checked on like he should have been, and he wasn't found until someone passing by saw him on the floor (a guest of the hospital - not even a nurse!).

First question - why is immediate family not allowed to stay the night if they elect to in certain hospitals?

Second question - does my aunt have a case against the hospital for negligence on their part? I mean, he was in ICU and it took a guest to find him on the floor, and this accident could have been prevented if his mother had stayed the night.

Believe me - I am not one to say the word "suit" lightly.
It's just my other cousin has spinal meningitis, and he's been in and out of the hospital all of his life (he's the younger brother of the one that was in the accident).
I'm just curious if my aunt were to sue, if she'd have anything because of the fall. It just seems careless on their part to not be keeping an eye on someone in ICU. If they don't permit family, then they should be able to check on their patients more often - because they are in ICU!
Just my opinion...

Answer 1

You definately have my condolences.

I don't exactly entend to leave an exact answer as there are 4 good ones already listed. However I might add this. The fact so many hospitals are short staffed is due to limited funds. Many of these funds suffer from such things as lawsuits.

Not that your cousin wasn't seriously injured as I do not know that, I just want to leave an additional point to think about. I'm not speaking from someone who has never faced the situation, my son almost lost his life because a doctor would not take me seriously. I had a very good pending lawsuit. I didn't act on it. The doctor was repremanded and as it turned out had many other lawsuits come up about the same time. I figured it was handled and my focus went onto my son and getting his health in order.

I'm not saying lawsuits are wrong I'm saying sometimes they are not seen as meant to be. When we have so many suing, we loose very important facilites to all of us including your cousin who may need them for sometime. I think sometimes we have to see if the wrong was corrected or changed and if a law suit is the best answer. If we choose them as our first response, sooner or later there will be no hospitals or doctors to sue as they won't be able to keep up with it all. Just be sure its a suitable response.

Best wishes to you, your cousin and family.

PS. I am in no way trying imply I presume you are after finacial gain I am merely trying to add a bit of something to think about that in the long run may not be the right choice. The entire facility and those using might all suffer when going to admitistration may have resolved it, and hoepfully no one was seriously hurt by the problem this far......

Answer 2

First of all, let me say that your cousin is very lucky!

Yes, your aunt has a case against the hospital, although if falling out of bed didn't injure him more, there may not be much of a payout. However, she should definitely take this to hospital management to prevent future problems.

If you don't trust the hospital, it may be time to switch.

Family is not allowed to spend the night in many ICUs for a number of reasons, one of which is that patients are very fragile, some die or won't ever recover and family members are sometimes extremely emotional and make it hard to give care to the other patients present. My sister is head nurse for an ICU, and at one point she had to lock the nurses' station with all the nurses inside and call security due to family members trying to beat one of them when they realized their grandma was dying and there wasn't going to be a miracle.

That's the worst thing I've heard. I've heard many more.

Having said that, it's also possible to have the rules bent if you approach the right person and have a good enough reason. I'd say your aunt already has a good reason to be there, and at this point they should let her stay.

Answer 3

Hun I am so sorry to hear about your cousin. Generally if a person is in ICU and they are hooked up to monitors they have alarms that go off if the patient attempts to move out of the bed.

Your Cousin might have been doing better than he appeared if he was not hooked up to any of these monitoring equipment.

Falls are pretty common in hospitals. Patients cannot be restrained unless they have attempted previously to be resistent to the care they need, and they have to be proven to be a harm to themselves. I have personally seen a person with a broken pelvis under the influence of medication attempt to get out of bed and had to be restrained because they were not dealing with a clear mind. Unfortunately from the outside looking in a relative could think that there is something they could have done to prevent the fall but its amazing how fast people can move and one of the biggest mistakes in the whole health care system in my opinion is the patient care ratios. The ratios are decided by corporate/insurance companies and that is the real problem behind alot of the accidents that occur.

I know this next statement will also sound difficult but the truth about family staying is that the patients in ICU and CCU are hurt far worse than most, they need no stressors such as family trying to talk to them or touching them and keeping them awake, as supportive as it looks from the families point of view, it is harmfu if you are fighting for your life and need to be in a medicated coma, or just resting and concentrating on breathing and not attempting to talk over a respirator...so please understand that they set the rules of visitation with the patients care in mind...this was a bad series of events that may or may not end up as a negligence case. Most hospitals have a right of redemption which would be to address your cousins problem with staying in his bed, and they would restrain him and then repair and treat any injuries resulting from the fall and continue to treat the motorcycle accident injuries. I hope your cousin stays strong and pulls through. Take Care hun.

Answer 4

first... I would like to extend my condolences to you and your family, the major thing is that he is still with you, dont loose site of that. My brother was in a bad accident on 12/11/06 and he is now paralyzed, so I feel your pain hun.
second... good luck with the law suit. if she is wealthy, she might have a chance but these things tend to take a large amount of time and money.
third... the strict rules about visitation are usually only for intense ICU, once my brother was stabilized he was transferred to another floor that was still ICU, but the rules about visitation where less strict and we could spend the night.
When my brother was in the strict ICU floor right after his accident, he would actually be MORE confused and rambunctious when we where around him. It was upsetting for him because he was soooo heavily medicated and he would become angry and confused. My brother, and out family was luck enough to have a really great nurse, Dave, that would kid around with him to get him to calm down.

anyway... hang in there hun and don't let your aunt loose site of the great miracle she still has with her!

Answer 5

1st quest: Don't know the answer. Every hospital has different rules. For instance, the rule may state that people are only allowed to stay overnight if they ask the hospital, and the hospital approves. You gotta check with the hospital. But don't ask them for a rationale of their rules--most are just arbitrary.

2nd quest: although it's awful that your cousin fell out of bed, in order for the hospital to be liable for anything, there has to be a compensable injury. You haven't said your cousin was injured beyond by the fall beyond the injuries of the wreck. If so, how do you tell the difference? Injuries occurring so close in time may be hard to distinguish from one another.

The argument that falling out of bed could have been prevented by letting your aunt stay is mere speculation. If your cousin woke while your aunt slept, he may still have fallen out of bed.

Sorry I can't be more supportive.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

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