Mike’s mishap

When the phone rang late, late last night, I knew something was up. Mike had fallen. He landed hard on his stump (Gosh I hate calling it that) He didn’t have his plastic protector on it- says it keeps falling off. They iced the leg (the nurse told me) he has a gash on his right leg from the fall which I asked to PLEASE keep a close eye on. My fear is what happened to his bad leg happened out of sight of the nurses, internally. I asked to have the call transferred and I talked to him. He said he was on his way to bed and he suddenly felt weak, then his good leg gave out on him and suddenly he was crashing to the floor. The aide wasn’t able to get him back up- it took four of them to get him into his wheelchair. I just pray he is going to be okay in the days to come and no real damage was actually done. He didn’t tear any stiches and they have been icing his legs. 🙁

2 thoughts on “Mike’s mishap”

I was a nurse assistant when I was 18. I was 5’6″ tall and weighed about 115 lbs. I worked on a pre- and post-op floor in a large hospital and many times helped patients to and from bathrooms, chairs, etc. That was fine with most patients of medium- to small-build who were just a bit unsteady on their feet after surgery. However, one day I had to help an extremely large woman to the bathroom by myself. She suffered a heart attack while we were slowly walking back from the bathroom and fell on top of me. She died, pinning me to the floor beneath her and it was about fifteen minutes or more before anyone heard me crying out while trying to get out from under her. After that, whenever we had larger patients, the hospital had a policy that male attendants with muscles (this was back in the late 60s) would be responsible for helping people over a certain weight or people with missing legs or people who were unable to ambulate easily with minimal help. Anyway, I think Mike probably falls into all three categories listed…. If you are not afraid to speak up in the hospital, there should be a very strong or maybe two very strong attendants (male or female) to help an overweight patient with a missing leg who is liable to become faint or dizzy to and from bed. It is very difficult to raise a patient from the floor once they have fallen — that is why it took four people to raise Mike up. Much easier to help a patient ambulate (walk) with a person on each side with their arms under his arms (there is a special technique to this) so that the patient has less chance of falling and is supported on both sides.

Also, Mike should be examined very carefully to be sure that he suffered NO damage in the fall, particularly head and neck areas, as well as his wounded leg. The hospital would be considered negligent and liable if adequate precautions were not taken to keep the patient from falling when being helped to walk.

I am not an attorney and cannot advise you regarding the laws in your state, but you should be aware of the possibilities of serious injury….