LAS VEGAS (KTNV) – A Clark County jury has ruled that a Las Vegas medical facility will pay more than $2.6 million to a man who suffered serious injuries after falling several times while in his care.
The incident occurred at Silver Hills Healthcare Center in 2020. Silver Hills is a 155-bed nursing and rehabilitation facility located near North Buffalo Drive and West Cheyenne Avenue, according to the facility's website.
Court documents say the man, identified as Curtis M. Roberts, was 66 years old at the time. He underwent stereotactic deep brain stimulation procedures at Sunrise Hospital on September 30, 2020 and October 7, 2020 to treat his advanced Parkinson's disease.
The surgery involves implanting electrodes in the brain that send electrical pulses to various parts of the brain that control body movement, according to the Mayo Clinic.
After the second surgery, Roberts was admitted to Silver Hills for inpatient physical and occupational therapy.
Roberts' lawyers said the procedure left Roberts with physical and mental disabilities that “substantially limited many of his major life activities, and he had medical records to demonstrate this impairment.” Says. They added that Mr Roberts also had a Morse fall risk assessment which indicated whether he was at high risk of falling. A score above 45 indicates high risk, and Roberts received a score of 75 after being admitted to the hospital.
According to court documents, Roberts fell on Oct. 11, Oct. 12, Oct. 13, Oct. 14 and Oct. 22. Silver Hills records show Roberts was transferred from the facility to Mountain View Rehabilitation after a fall last year. She will benefit from a higher level of care and increased treatment. ”
As a result of the fall, Roberts suffered a spinal fracture and delayed recovery from a deep brain stimulation procedure, according to the lawsuit.
Roberts' attorneys said the facility “failed to take appropriate fall precautions, failed to update the plan of care to reflect interventions taken to prevent frequent falls, and failed to provide adequate supervision.” said that the standard of care had been breached. [Roberts], and failure to initiate a more appropriate transition to a higher level of care facility. ”
“Companies have been instructed not to use bed alarms or bed rails, even though Medicare requires them in certain circumstances,” said Roberts' attorney, Gerald Gillock. “Their instructions were not to tell families that these safeguards were even available.”
On Monday, a Clark County jury ruled that Silver Hills was at fault in four of the five falls and that Roberts should receive a total of $2,616,848 in damages.
Gillock said the ruling is notable because Nevada limits non-economic damages for medical malpractice to $430,000. However, the case was sent to a jury on uncapped ordinary negligence.
“The rationale was that if someone falls, you don't need medical judgment to know that you need to do something to prevent it,” Gillock said. “This is a common, ordinary negligence case, and I believe this is one of the first cases where this type of judgment has been reached.”
