Dad was left to fall at assisted living. What do I do now?

I’m sorry for your loss but please step back for a moment which is difficult to do when you are grieving.

His symptoms could possibly be that your father was having an acute stroke.

What did the coroner say or was the brain bleed diagnosed after he went to the hospital from the AL?

It sounds tome the AL followed the proper procedure in calling 911 to get him treatment.

AL’s are not staffed like a nursing home or hospital. I am not sure they are even regulated by Medicare as far as the stringent inspections NH must go through. Often there is only one nurse available if that. It could be one nurse for an entire building in an AL.

Speak to the providers that treated him at the hospital to ask if his was a spontaneous intracranial bleed. If so he had a stoke which was his cause of death.

Again, sorry to hear of your loss.

My daughter is a RN in a rehab/nursing home. She told me that if they are going to fall they will fall. They can't be watched constantly. Aides have routines and other residents. It only takes a moment for someone to fall. You just turn your back...and there they go.

You need to find out if this hemorrhage was caused by falling out of the wheelchair. The hemorrhage may have caused the fall. Dad slupping over was awful fast. What you need to find out is if the aide actually saw the fall. If he did and still says Dad did not hit his head, usually ALs and NHs don't rush them to the hospital. If he didn't see the fall then they usually send the resident to the hospital. I think more info is needed before anything legal is done.

Since ALs don't bill Medicare, I don't know what they could do.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Dixie.

Dixie, I am so sorry for your loss.

So many want to move family members because of falls. The elderly fall and it cannot be prevented. Even the very best 24/7 one on one care falls will still happen, especially in new places.

Again I am so sorry for your loss, it must be very hard for all.

Use search words: nursing home injury report Medicare. You should find a medicare.gov website that tells you how to file a complaint. You can also file a complaint with your state nursing home supervision agency. Most nursing homes and assisted living facilities have to have the complaint number posted in a public area. Go to a different facility to get the number if you don't want to go back there. With a complaint, the investigators can go in and check things out. This will help prevent the same thing from happening to others. I have done this and you do get a report at the end of the investigation. But on the other hand, what you describe sounds like somebody in the process of having a stroke already, not caused by the fall. But a jerk nurse needs to be removed from service; that much you can do. Also, talk to the nurses supervisor about what you saw/heard. My sincere condolences on the loss of your father.

I'm so sorry. It is a fact of life that older people fall, even with the best of care and even in their own homes. From what you wrote I'm not seeing any incompetence, they called to inform you and sent him to the hospital just as they should. ((((hugs)))