My question involves an injury that occurred in the state of: Virginia
My 92-year-old father with Stage 5 / 6 Alzheimer's has been in a memory care facility run by Sunrise Senior Living since October of last year. He has been somewhat unsteady on his feet for some time. On Friday evening Sept 1, I received a phone call from the facility and they said "Your father has fallen and is complaining he is in pain, so we called 911 and sent him to the hospital".
When I got the hospital, they told me he has a broken hip and will require surgery, which was performed on Sept 5th and involved a new partial hip replacement. He does not really know what is happening to him, or understand the medical procedure, and the operation was high-risk due to his frailty and congestive heart failure. So far, so good, but he's not out of the woods yet on this by a long shot and will have to undergo weeks of physical therapy which he cannot understand. The facility where he was staying at a rate of $ 10,000 per month has said nothing or had any contact with us as to what occured or asked about his condition. I cleaned out his room and asked around - no one knew a thing or if they did they were not saying.
Some basic questions I have:
* Does the facility have a duty to assess a resident's ability to walk unassisted and/or determine when that resident needs a wheelchair or an aide to traverse the corridors?
* Dementia / Alzheimer's patients have no cognitive function, and must rely on others to make good decisions on their behalf. Is there some degree of negligence in this situation?
* Does this appear to have a valid enough basis to consult a Virginia Personal Injury Attorney?
In my own mind, this would not have been a fall that would have occured had he had regular assessments and monitoring by an aide. They pretty much allow the residents of the facility free run of the place and do little other than feeding them and bathing. Of course, its annoying that they have not once tried to contact me incident, but that is hardly illegal.
TIA - Duane C.

