The District of Columbia Court of Appeals recently dismissed a negligence lawsuit filed against a nursing home by the court-appointed legal guardian of an elderly nursing home resident.

   The suit alleged that negligence in the handling of the resident had caused her hip to fracture. Specifically, shortly before the resident’s hip fracture was detected by the professional nursing staff at the facility, the resident had been transferred from a shower chair back to her bed by one nurse’s aide acting alone without assistance, in violation of the nursing home’s policy. Policy at the facility clearly stated that two aides were needed every time a resident was to be lifted.

   The physician who treated the resident at the hospital where she was taken for hip surgery testified there were multiple medical causes for the fracture: a twisting motion followed by an impact, the severe osteopenic condition of the resident’s bones, her chronic thyroid condition, and her medications.

   There was no direct evidence that the solo transfer of the resident had fractured her hip. There was no direct evidence the twisting and impact did not occur during her regular daily activities. And there was no direct evidence it was not a spontaneous fracture, according to the court.