Nursing Home Injury Lawyers Discuss Bed Rail Accident Injuries & Death

Patients residing at a Michigan nursing home or hospital that fall from a bed due to the neglect of its staff or a defective bed rail do have legal rights and may be able to pursue a lawsuit.  Negligence of staff can also include the failure of  providing bed rails on a bed, and due to there being no bed rails a patients fall and either injures or themselves or is killed due to their resulting injuries.  These injuries can be very serious, even resulting in death.  At the law firm of Buckfire & Buckfire, P.C. our nursing home injury lawyers represent patients and their families who have become a victim of neglect.  This includes bed rail accidents, as unfortunately they happen all too often.

Often times, it is the doctor’s obligation to suggest bed rails for the patient and the nursing staff’s responsibility to make sure that they are being used when the patient is in bed.  When our nursing home neglect lawyers examine your case we will be able to determine if the doctor was negligent for failing to prescribe bed rails.  If the bed rails were ordered by the nursing home doctor but not used or not up to correct standards, this would result in negligence by the nursing home facility and its staff. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), potential risks of bed rails may include:

• Strangling
• Suffocating
• Bodily injury or death when patients or part of their body are caught between rails or between the bed rails and mattress
• More serious injuries from falls when patients climb over rails
• Skin bruising, cuts, and scrapes
• Inducing agitated behavior when bed rails are used as a restraint
• Feeling isolated or unnecessarily restricted
• Preventing patients, who are able to get out of bed, from performing routine activities such as going to the bathroom or retrieving something from a closet

In a study conducted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), from 2003 to 2012 there were approximately 36,900 emergency ward visits that involved bed rails. Nursing home residents who are at highest risk for a bed rail death and injury include patients with problems of memory, sleeping, incontinence, pain, uncontrolled body movement, and patients who get out of bed and walk unsafely without assistance. As a result of these findings, there has been little to no regulations on bed rails. 

If you or someone you know suffers injuries after falling from a bed in a bed rail accident you should contact a Michigan nursing home neglect lawyer immediately to discuss your case at (800) 606-1717. We will discuss your case with you and determine whether or not you have basis to file a lawsuit against the Michigan nursing home facility or hospital. Call today for your free, no obligation consultation and learn your legal rights!