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Patient Falls In Bathroom: Hospital Not Negligent, Court Says
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
Quick Summary: In her lawsuit the patient said there was water on the floor. Her statement in the hospital incident report was that her legs just gave out.
A patient came to the emergency room after falling off a ladder at home. Her diagnosis was a compression fracture and myasthenia gravis. Before leaving she fell in the bathroom.
The Superior Court of Pennsylvania ruled that without proof from the injured party that the hospital knew about the water, the chance of a patient falling was not foreseeable, applying to hospitals the same traditional rule applied to retail and other business establishments in slip-and-fall cases.
Swift v. Hospital, 690 A. 2d 719 (Pa. Super., 1997).