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I was told he fell whilst trying to use the bathroom at night. He was not able to walk without assistance and was mainly bedridden so I wonder why this was allowed to happen. He died 5 weeks later after being in hospital and then going back to the nursing home. He was 87 with dementia.I want to know if the care home was negligent in such a situation.

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It’s illegal for anyone to physically restrain a demented elder outside of a hospital. Falls are a result but unavoidable unless there is one on one caregiving, which often isn’t possible. Sorry for your loss but there is only so much you can do, even in an institutional setting.
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Reply to ShirleyDot
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Sometimes the bone in the hip breaks and that causes the fall, particularly in those that are bedridden and not regularly standing, walking and lifting weights. This is more common in women but can happen in men also. i.e. The senior stands, the hip bone breaks and then the senior falls. Again, this is more common in bedridden seniors and more common in women.

Seniors that are bedridden are much higher risk of falls than seniors that walk around the facility.

In Florida it is illegal to use restraints on seniors in nursing homes. Restraints include bedrails up. Too many seniors died from rolling over in the nursing home bed and having their neck jammed against the bedrail and choking to death.

For seniors that are a fall risk generally you want a bed that drops low to the ground with a gym pad on the floor in case the senior rolls out of bed.

I am sorry for your loss.
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Reply to brandee
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I’m sorry for your loss. The sad fact is no matter where your dad was, the falls were never entirely preventable. They are the curse of the elderly and no one can be watched around the clock. I wish you comfort and peace
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Reply to Daughterof1930
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No, not negligent -- at least not here in the US..

What would have been the options? To restrain him? Here in the US facilities are extremely reluctant to use anything that will keep a resident in bed and appear as a "restraint", including bed rails. Smart places put the mattress on the floor or use concave mattresses.

Medication? So that he'd not wake up during the night? This doesn't work for everyone.

A 1-to-t attendant who was at his bedside all night? This would only be possible if you paid for such an overnight aid.

He had dementia so would not even remember to ring or call for help. Demented elders falling facilities is practically an Olympic sport. My very elderly Aunt, with advanced dementia, forgot she couldn't walk without assistance (living in her own home). At night we put barricades around her bed, just in case. One night she got up to go to the bathroom (something she had never done before) and fell on the carpeted floor, breaking her hip. When in the rehab facility she continued to try to get out of bed and even trying to "escape" out the window. She passed away before we could transition her to LTC, where I'm sure she would have continued to attempt to walk. I was dreading it because there was no solution for this scenario. It was a mercy that she passed when she did. Please think of your Father's passing as a mercy as well. Dementia just makes their life worse and worse.
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Reply to Geaton777
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Suzy23 7 hours ago
Agreed! In his final days of dementia, my dad was in a hospice facility and they put his mattress on the floor with bolsters around it. They showed him the buzzer to push for assistance but he could not understand or remember how to use it. He did crawl out of bed the first night and the alarms went off. He didn’t have the strength to stand.

Before that at home he would get out of bed and try to stand multiple times per day and night, despite being reminded he did not have the strength. Even when we had an aide stay with him overnight, of course she had to leave the room for a few minutes to go to the bathroom herself and he would try it then.

Falls are not entirely preventable.
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My mother fell 95x while living in AL and then Memory Care. It was due to her not using her walker and then thinking she could walk when she couldn't and not calli g for help at night when she wanted to use the toilet. There is no such thing as 1 to 1 care 24/7/365 in a care facilty or in home care. So nobody is to blame here.

My condolences on the loss of your father.
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Reply to lealonnie1
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My mother with dementia forgot she was supposed to use her walker and tried to ambulate without it to use the bathroom. Truly, with the dementia it's really just a matter of time in terms of falls.
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Reply to ElizabethY
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Why do you want to know if this was ‘negligence’? If you are thinking of suing for a payout, forget it – you won’t get it, and the legal action will cost you a lot. If you want ‘revenge’, it might be worth going to see the Ombudsman. They can work out what really ought to be done.
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Reply to MargaretMcKen
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Most facilities will tell you that there is always a risk of falls, especially with dementia (and not having the awareness that he needs to call for help with toileting or other activities.) I even signed an acknowledgment of that at my mom's AL facility.

Some patients would have to be physically restrained to the bed or chair to prevent falls. Did they discuss this with you? It is a sensitive/traumatic step to take, and not always in the patient's best interests, even if it WOULD have prevented his fall.

With my grandmother, the SNF offered to restrain her, but we decided against the trauma of that and made the conscious decision that "if she falls, she falls" and we were ready to bear the consequences of that, even a resulting death.

I don't think that a fall by itself is negligence, but if they were supposed to have a bedside commode and did not, or if he called and they did not respond, or some other failure of care, then perhaps there was negligence. I'm not qualified to judge, for sure, but I'm sorry for your loss.
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Reply to BabyGirl2
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First...I am sorry for the loss of your father whom I sure you loved dearly.
Then I will say that of course the care home wasn't negligent in your fathers passing. Your father probably forgot that he couldn't get to the bathroom by himself because of his broken brain, so he just tried to go by himself thus falling and breaking his hip.
Falls are often the demise that will take an elderly person out especially when that elderly person has dementia. And if truth be told, it's often a blessing when a fall happens allowing the person not to have to suffer anymore in a body and brain they no longer have any control over.
Your father is at peace now and doesn't have to struggle anymore and I hope that that brings you some peace even if in just a small way.
I'm sure your father wouldn't want you second guessing how his death went down, but would want you now moving forward in honoring his memory.
God bless you.
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Reply to funkygrandma59
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