David S. Barmak Health Care Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Nursing Homes Can Be Sued For Acts of God

Wednesday, November 23, 2011 by David S. Barmak

Nursing Homes Can Be Sued for Acts of God

               &# 160;     David S. Barmak, Esq.             

We defended a nursing home against a lawsuit by the wife of a resident. Both the husband and wife were aging.  The wife visited every night. She was very devoted to her husband. She often told the nursing home how much she appreciated the wonderful care.  Every night as she left the nursing home she went out the side exit, walked along a wide, recently repaved, well-lit sidewalk to the parking lot where she had parked her car. One night, as she was walking on the sidewalk to her car, she fell and fractured her hip. As she was rescued by the nursing home, she told the social worker and two nurses: “I was walking on the sidewalk and a gust of wind blew me off the sidewalk”. She hired a lawyer who sued the nursing home for negligence.

We confirmed during her deposition – that’s where we asked her questions about her injuries – what had happened.  She said over and over again – “a gust of wind blew me off the sidewalk”. We found out during the deposition that she had a pre-existing weakness from a hip fix months earlier. 

We filed a motion for summary judgment – that’s where we presented to the court that the facts were not in dispute so the court should apply the law then instead of waiting until trial. We won.  The judge agreed that the nursing home had done everything it was supposed to do – provide a safe sidewalk free from cracks, well-lit and wide enough for an aged person to walk.

Our point within this story is that we can do everything right and we can still be sued. Unfortunately, lawsuits by residents and their families appear to be the cost of doing business and in our case the cost of providing care.  Nevertheless, we must continue to minimize what we do that contributes to these lawsuits.

For additional information go to:

www.barmak.com

Posted at 16:09 PM
Topic: Health Care
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