Supreme Court, Westchester County

The plaintiffs alleged that the hospital was supposedly negligent in failing to recognize that an 82-year-old female plaintiff’s medical condition placed her at a heightened risk for falls upon standing, sitting, and ambulating. The plaintiffs similarly alleged that the defendant hospital failed to follow protocol to protect the plaintiff from falling, failed to assist the plaintiff to and from the bathroom, and was negligent in failing to assist the plaintiff while in the bathroom.  The court agreed with the hospital’s nursing expert that the hospital’s staff was not negligent in the care and treatment of the plaintiff, nor did the staff depart from good and accepted standards of nursing care in their treatment of the plaintiff. The court agreed with the hospital’s expert that the applicable standard of care did not require staff to remain with the plaintiff in the bathroom. There was nothing in the hospital’s chart suggesting that the plaintiff would be unable to use the bathroom on her own.  The court agreed that the hospital provided a safe and proper environment for the plaintiff and appropriate fall protocols were in place.