A $2.3 million nursing home malpractice lawsuit has been filed against Avamere Rehabilitation of Junction City, Ore.

The lawsuit alleges that after just two days of being an Avamere resident, Esbert P. fell out of bed, breaking his hip. The incident occurred in April 2017. Esbert, 99, died within a month of the fall, says the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed Jan. 5 by a personal representative of the estate, plaintiff Teresa S.

Teresa says Avamere staff found Esbert lying in a fetal position on the floor of a fellow resident’s room before 2 a.m. on March 18, according to the nursing home malpractice lawsuit.

Esbert allegedly said the left side of his head was hurting, presumably from hitting the floor. He also exhibited a tear to the skin of his left elbow, but his hip injury was initially missed by Avamere staff members.

The staff helped him into a wheelchair and returned him to his own room. As they placed him back into bed, the staff noticed there was something wrong with his left hip. Esbert was sent to a hospital’s emergency room by ambulance.

The hospital determined that Esbert had broken his left hip. Only 16 days later, Esbert was dead, allegedly as a result of complications related to the broken hip.

Nursing Home Malpractice Lawsuit Alleges Negligence

Teresa Sanchez alleges the nursing home staff were aware of Esbert’s history of falling down, and that the nursing home failed to follow through with a health care protocol that had been agreed upon.

This plan included “a bed alarm, as well as alarmed floor mats be placed next to his bed and his chair,” says the nursing home malpractice lawsuit, which also says that a handwritten incident report made note that one side of the bed did not include an alarmed floor mat.

Sanchez accuses the nursing home staff of negligence because they failed to properly assess the gentleman’s fall risk, failed to make sure he was supervised, failed to train staff so they could adequately care for Esbert and failed to follow through with the alarm-based floor mats on both sides of his bed as earlier discussed and decided.

The $2.3 million nursing home malpractice lawsuit includes $1.5 million for Esbert’s “conscious pain and suffering” and $80,000 to cover medical and funeral expenses. An additional $750,000 in damages is being sought for Nora P., Esbert’s wife and beneficiary, who has been “deprived of her husband’s companionship” because of his early death.

Nursing home malpractice lawsuits are popping up all over the country as the aging baby boomer population reaches their golden years. Unfortunately, studies show that 90 percent of nursing homes don’t have enough staff to properly care for the increasing number of residents who populate the homes.

The National Center on Elder Abuse says there were 43.1 million people age 65 and older in 2012. By the year 2050, more than 83 million people age 65 and older will live in the U.S., meaning the demand for adequate care facilities and properly trained staff will almost double.