My father 2 years ago was at the hospital for a bad GI bleed. He was stable but lost a lot of blood. My mother asked if she could please stay over night and be with him and they said she had to leave. Well the next day my father tells her that he fell while he was in the bathroom and that he called out but nobody came. He called out and then he doesn't even remember how long he was on the floor, he was unconscious, he hit his head, he had a big scrape on his back, and had a huge bruise, the fall was so hard even the stand with his information that he was connected to broke. My mom had seen nurses while at the hospital, WHILE WORKING on their phone. She also said after she asked if he had fallen that the nurses response was “unfortunately he did fall.” My father has back problems now. Isn’t it there duty to be there? To check? What if my father had died? Can I file a lawsuit against that hospital for Malpractice? Can I ask them if they even reported the fall at all? How much can I sue them for? The hospital by the way was The Ventura County Hospital in Ventura Ca.
One thing I am surprised is that the hospital didn't have an emergency pull cord in the bathroom that your Dad could have used. Or maybe your Dad didn't notice it or realized one was there.
At night time, most patients are sleeping. Nurses or Aides usually will check the patients a few times during the night, unless the patient uses a "call button" for more immediate attention. But there will be times when a new patient comes in from the ER so that patient needs to settled, and/or there is a heart attack situation with another patient down the hall.
My own Dad was a fall risk, so our hospital assigned an "overnight sitter" to watch him, and to help him if he needed to use the bathroom or notify a nurse/aide to help her.
As for the nurses being on their phones. Most hospital do not allow personal cellphones to be in use while on duty. Even I am not allowed to use my phone and I am a volunteer. Chances are the cellphones your mother saw were in-house phones where the nurses/aides/doctors/etc. can connect with each other.
If you wish to make an appointment with an Attorney, that is your call. Let the Attorney explain how this works, and if there is any chance of compensation.
I think you would have a very difficult time connecting his bad back now to a fall that occurred two years ago.