On May 13, 2019, Denise Wood went to visit her mother at St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California. While walking through the hospital, she slipped on a liquid substance left unattended on the floor and immediately experienced severe pain. A hospital employee instructed Denise to go to the emergency department.
In the emergency department, an X-ray was taken of Denise’s hip, which showed a fractured femoral head in her left hip. While the hip fracture was documented in her medical record, Denise alleged that the hospital staff failed to disclose the hip fracture to her, which delayed treatment of her hip fracture and prolonged her suffering for several months. She ultimately required a hip replacement.
Denise filed a lawsuit against the hospital and the treating physicians for negligence, premises liability, and fraudulent concealment, alleging that the attending physicians intentionally concealed her diagnosis from her which deprived her of timely medical treatment that unnecessarily caused her harm. Denise sought compensation for her medical expenses, lost income, and emotional distress, as well as punitive damages.
On February 18, 2025, the California jury awarded Denise $3,915,000 in damages, including $120,066 in future medical expenses, $2,365,000 for past noneconomic damages, and, $1,100,000 for future noneconomic damages. The jury determined that Denise was 15% responsible for her injuries while the defendant hospital was 85% responsible.
Each year, between 700,000 and 1,000,000 people in the United States fall in the hospital, and about 1.3 million residents in nursing facilities fall. Falls can lead to serious injuries, decreased ability to function, reduced quality of life, increased fear of falling, and increased health care use. Source
Falls among hospital inpatients range from 2.3 to 7 falls per 1,000 patient-days. Approximately 30% of inpatient falls result in injury, with 4% to 6% resulting in serious injury. Serious fall-related injuries can include fractures, subdural hematomas, excessive bleeding, and death. Injuries due to falls also increase health care costs: patients who fall and sustain injury are reported to have hospital charges over $4,200 higher than patients who do not fall.
One study of hospital falls in an academic teaching hospital found that the largest proportions of patients fell in the evening or at night, in the patient’s room, and had an unassisted fall. Lost balance was the most common mechanism of the fall mentioned by patients or documented in the adverse event reporting system. Half of falls were elimination related (a fall that occurred during an activity related to elimination, such as ambulating to or from the bathroom or bedside commode, reaching for toilet tissue, exiting a soiled bed, etc.) – only 19% of elimination-related falls actually occurred in the patient’s bathroom. Among patients who fell, those 65 years or older were more likely to have an elimination-related fall than those less than 65 years old. Source
If you or a family member were injured (or worse) as a result of a fall in a hospital in California or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a California medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your hospital fall claim for you and represent you or your family member in a hospital fall case, if appropriate.
Visit our website or call us toll free in the United States at 800-295-3959 to find medical malpractice lawyers in California or in your state who may assist you.
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