LANCASTER – The family of an elderly Lancaster woman was awarded $270,350 in a medical malpractice wrongful death lawsuit against Antelope Valley Hospital.
The Los Angeles Superior Court jury returned a verdict in favor of 90-year-old Valera Hebden‘s family on June 19, upholding the claim that Hebden had died from head and brain injuries after falling out of her bed as an inpatient at the hospital. The fall occurred on Nov. 3, 2012, and Hebden died from her injuries on Nov. 11, 2012. [View the complaint here.]
The family claimed Hebden needed assistance when getting out of bed in the middle of the night while medicated, but the hospital disagreed, according to the Law Offices of Steven D. Hillyard APC.
“It was an interesting case because the hospital took the position that they didn’t have to have one-on-one assist on patients that are elderly, that are on Coumadin, that are on oxycodone and on ambien,” Hillyard told The AV Times.
Hebden’s fall took place at about 4 a.m., according to Hillyard, who said her injuries included a fractured skull, a brain bleed in the back of her head, and a midshaft fracture of her femur that was both displaced and comminuted (broken into several pieces).
“And the family is saying, ‘what happened?’ They were trying to figure out what happened, and the hospital wouldn’t disclose anything, saying everything is confidential,” Hillyard said, noting that the Los Angeles County coroner determined Hebden’s death was due to “blunt force trauma from the fall.”
Hillyard said the key to this case was that Hebden needed a one-person assist to get out of bed – especially while heavily medicated – and that nurses prior to that day had evaluated her as a one-person assist. However, the nurse that night did not assist Hebden, saying the patient was independent and could get up on her own, according to Hillyard.
Though Antelope Valley Hospital admitted no wrongdoing, Hillyard said that the verdict demonstrates that policies need to change at the hospital – and with elderly treatment overall.
“They said you can’t put the bed rails up because that is a restraint,” he said. “Well, our experts said sometimes you need to restrain patients – and then tell them they need to call if they need to get up out of bed. So there is a lot of things they can do better, and this was preventable, and they just didn’t do it. I think hospitals need to step it up.”
According to Hillyard, Hebden was admitted to the hospital by her family on Oct. 31, 2012, to monitor an atrial fibrillation – an abnormal heart rhythm characterized by rapid and irregular beating.
The plaintiff’s case was also critical of how hospital staff handled the patient after her fall. Hillyard said nurses never called the paramedics or the ER department, but “put her back in bed without placing her in full C-spine precautions. They stabilized her head, but the fracture of her femur, for example, was totally displaced, visibly broken. You know, you just don’t pick up somebody (after a fall like that) and put them back in bed.”
The trial lasted a couple of weeks, and although $250,000 is the maximum verdict for general damages in malpractice cases, additional economic damages were added to the jury’s agreement “that Antelope Valley Hospital’s negligence was a substantial factor in causing harm to decedent, Valera Hebden,” according to the verdict statement.
The economic damages to the plaintiffs include $3,100 for funeral and burial expenses, $1,250 for past medical expenses, and $16,000 in past financial support.
Hillyard said his firm only recently began representing plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases. Before that, he had defended doctors and hospitals, which included the Regents of the University of California, for more than 30 years.
“I love (defense work) because we’re representing families that need help,” he said. “It is so costly to try these cases because you have to hire really top-notch experts to prevail on these things. Families don’t have a lot of money to do that, so we have to front that money, and there’s limitations on damages.”
–
Melodie says
As a health care worker, I’m very sorry for your loss. I’ve worked at AVHospital, and the nurses are caring and compassionate. Many patients are identified as a falls risk for as many different reasons. When patients are labeled a “falls risk” there is a protocol that is followed. Families are often asked or encouraged to participate in their loved ones care by staying at their bedside, sadly the majority of times they refuse. Despite the staff encouraging patients to use their call light, or asking family members to stay, often times they don’t and if there is an unfortunate outcome, the hospital/staff get blamed. What happened to people accepting responsibility for their actions? Putting side rails up is a restraint, if I had a nickel for every patient with side rails up that crawled or climbed out if bed, I could retire and live very comfortably.
I’m sure that the monetary compensation doesn’t touch or relieve the grief that you have experienced, but please recognize that your loved one was cared for caring and compassionate staff. I’m proud to have worked at AVHOSPITAL and to have had the opportunity to work with such a great group of health care workers. I’ve also been a patient at AVHOSPITAL and received stellar care.
Again, I’m sorry for your loss.
Filmon says
False statements I had bad experience in the AV hospital
Rachel says
I don’t doubt that there are wonderfull nurses including yourself that work in hospitals. But quite frankly it isn’t the job of family members to sit by their loved ones. They have lives to live and jobs to go to. Nurses are the ones who get paid to do this, and have an obligation to take proper care of their patient regardless of the patient’s family members refusing to assist them at their job. The patient’s family not being there is irrelevant to their duty and responsibility. If there is a problem with the bed rails then that should be sufficiently handled by the hospital. The answer is not to leave the elderly patient to their own devices when they are frail, possibly not in their right mind and heavily medicated.
allie22 says
wrong! nurses are NOT paid to sit by your loved ones! although all too often, we end up doing exactly that, camping out by YOUR ‘loved ones’ door to watch them, while still trying to juggle the impossible amount of things we need to be doing for our OTHER patients. if you really did LOVE your ‘loved ones’ that much, you’d do what other people (though sadly not enough of them do. I’ve seen plenty of family members sleep at their loved ones bedside, then get up at 530AM and go to their jobs. families who take turns to be there and call in favors from friends and in laws to manage their kids for a few days. people who really DO ‘love’ their ‘loved ones’ make the effort.
if I had a nickel for every little disoriented, sick old lady or man, unable to give their medical history or tell us what meds they’re on, who has arrived on my unit ALONE at 3AM because their family left the ER as soon as they were told grandma was going to be admitted, I’D be able to retire comfortably. these are the same people who finally show up at 8oclock the next night, then want to impress us all by carrying on about the care their ‘loved one’ is receiving, and why hasn’t XYZ been done, and why isn’t the doctor there to talk to them, blah blah blah. sorry, I am there actually CARING about your loved one twelve hours a day, and I DO actually care about what happens to them. I’d never be able to do this job if I didn’t. but I’m not a baby sitter and I can’t be everywhere at once. and it is not all unusual to have two or three elderly patients who are frail, not in their right minds, and heavily medicated. then what Rachel? while I’m keeping an eye on your grandpa that you love so much you can’t manage to be there for him, who is watching the confused lady down the hall? it’s a roulette game.
how about families showing their ‘loved ones’ a little more LOVE and CARING, and stop being so free to push responsibility on other people? but that is sadly all too common these days- everybody wants somebody else to do all the hard stuff in life for them
Deborah Rouvalis says
that wasn’t the problem the problem was they didn’t give her a Care in x-rays or send it to a hospital after he felt his that was the point
Ms. Christine Pezel says
Attn:
Tim Scott,
Do you even know these people., or are you just another brash dumbass on the Internet trying to put people down to stroke your own ego. I hope very seriously sir that you lose someone that you might actually miss. Your mother probably lives in shame.
Tim Scott says
Yeah, you’re not the first to wish me ill. I don’t worry too much about it.
Marcia McFeeley says
Mr Scott I am a member of Valera Hebden’s family she lived with me for many years
and she was loved and terribly missed by her family. You can think what you want
but no one that goes into this kind of lawsuit makes much money so you have to
really decide what to do but believe it or not we thought we would get information about
what caused our mothers terrible injuries and death we were wrong we still will never
know. Marcia McFeeley
Tim Scott says
I’m sorry for your loss, and for the feelings of uncertainty you are having.
It is an unfortunate reality that there are all kinds of things that land in that “no way to know” category. Generally, that has nothing to do with anyone willfully hiding information. It is also unfortunate that you fell prey to an attorney (who undoubtedly DOES make a lot of money) who convinced you that somehow a lawsuit was the path to resolving those feelings.
Claire says
Dear Mr. Scott…Your comment is not based on facts (truth). No you are not sorry for their loss, or else you would have kept the rest of your opinion to yourself. How pretentious you are with your self-righteous comments.
$$$$ says
Yup!
Deborah Rouvalis says
you stupid a****** because there were wrongif it wasn’t for the hospital responding to this woman she might still be alive today ass hole
Claire says
Marcia…Pay no attention to Mr. Scotts comments. You and your family need not defend your actions to this person. Please don’t be hurt by this persons comments. His comments are not based on truth. His comments are cruel, and I’m sure he actually has convinced himself that he some kind of truth teller. Their always the ones that don’t have a clue about truth. Tim Scott is arrogant and unkind.
Tim Scott says
Aren’t you the all knowing little chatterbox! Any suggestion as to how you know what I may or may not be sorry about?
LN says
Mr. Scott,
It is more than obvious your lively-hood is to comment on social media. Hoping that someday you will get a real life and move onto socializing with real people as we know you are not sorry for taking the unknown and making complete ASSUMPTIONS. I will take the side of assumption however and figure you won’t be getting out anytime soon and doing any real socialization as I believe you don’t have any true social skills.
Tim Scott says
LOL…well, thanks for the concern, but I do okay. Always have.
Granny13 says
Mr. Tim Scott stop hurting people with your know it all mean careless comments. Stop calling people names. Your hatred for Law Enforcement and Attorneys is getting old. People in the AV are frankly tired of your greater than thou attitude.
Tim Scott says
And these “people” appointed YOU as their spokesperson? They must be really hard up.
Filmon says
Sorry for your loss may god be with your family
Deborah says
so you went to court you won the case and you still can’t find out the cause of deathwhy is that.
Christy says
I’m so sorry for the families loss. My family have had several traumas at AV Hospital as well. The hospital needs to closely look at the policies and procurers put in place as well as the people they hire. This hospital has an over all “F” rating. Perhaps its time to step up your game.
Kendra says
I was trained at AVH when I was in nursing school. I have many fellow grads that work there who are exceptional nurses, but all I can say is this is disappointing. I work in a VERY rural small hospital in Georgia and there is absolutely no way we would have allowed a patient on Coumadin, Hydrocodone AND Ambien to ever get out of bed unassisted. We would have set a bed alarm to notify us of a patient trying to get out of bed and made this patient a “High Fall Risk” with appropriate door signage. I’m not saying we haven’t had patients try to get out of bed, but when that alarm goes off at 3 people are in the room in a blink. I’m just having difficultly understanding AVH’s logic in not having a bed alarm and this patient as a “High Fall Risk” with those meds on board. SMH
Person says
Kendra,
I do not see it listed in this article whether the patient was “allowed” out of bed unassisted. I do not see that explicitly stated anywhere, nor do I see the patients fall evaluation or what prevention strategies were present at the time of incident. So while I do agree with your sentiment, I do not know enough about this situation to share your feeling of disappointment. Too many details are missing. This reads more like propaganda than news – there’s no substance behind these claims. I can only hope the court was privy to detailed information that we are denied as the public.
Tim Scott says
I wonder how many times this woman fell down while in the care of the family that has now capitalized on her unfortunate death.
Nancy says
Tim Scott your statement is irrelevant to the fall which caused her death. I worked at two of our Valley’s hospitals on the overnight shift. She should have been assisted when getting up. At 90 years old there should have been precautions put in place. The fact that she was on medication that made her a fall risk made it even more a priority. To say the family “capitalized” is just wrong and down right iniquitous. This family has suffered a loss that should never had happened. Only God knows how many more years she had left, but thanks to AVH the family will never know. They were robbed of that time she had left. Shame on you for suggesting otherwise.
Claire says
Tim Scott…Yes, your comment is irrelevant! I know this beautiful, loving family. I would try to enlighten you with the truth, but you are too self-centered to care. Shame on you!
Tim Scott says
My mother has been a “fall risk” for years. She has fallen in the hospital. She has fallen in a convalescent hospital. She has fallen in the care home. She fell in her home.
She has been told in all these places and more that eventually she is going to fall and be seriously hurt, so she needs to wait for assistance. She doesn’t.
When she eventually does manage to fall and seriously hurt herself, will I get to blame whoever happens to be around at the time? Will I be entitled to compensation for having been “robbed”?
Get off the high horse.
Rachel says
Is this to suggest that every elderly person is like your mother? And is it your belief that no one should be able to be financially compensated for wrongful death? Or do you know for certain that this was not a wrongful death?
Tim Scott says
How many 90 year olds do you know that are NOT at risk for falling down and breaking something at any moment? Death happens, and no, there is no “financial compensation”. The loss of a cherished family member can’t be made up in cash. Those who are trying to help, and have to deal with the difficulties that families generally can’t (and in some cases just don’t want to) deal with should be applauded for their efforts, not sued for their failures.
Desiree says
Tim Scott:
I don’t know if they capitalized because the Lawyer will take a chuck of the money. When my husband died, I got $250,000 and let me tell you, I live on the East side of Palmdale and can hardly afford groceries. That $250,000 did not take me far at all. And in this article, it states that the “Family” sued which tells me that more than one person will share the money. No human deserves to fall off a bed in a hospital to sustain the injuries that this woman did. Her treatment was cruel and very inhumane. I was not there the night it happened, but from the care I have received when I got my dog bite (The hospital didn’t even clean it up for me) I can only imagine how this woman died alone on the ground, probably crying out for help and not one person answered. To write the things you have to is cruel, about as cruel as what the nurses did to her the night she died. I don’t wish harm upon you for your meanness but I do hope you will apologize to the family for the cruel things you have written.