Family of fall victim, 84 wins $3M in lawsuit against DCMH
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A Delaware County jury has awarded the family of 84-yearold James DeGeorge $3 million in damages for a fatal fall at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in 2015.
“We had a strong case with a really nice family and the jury saw how simple it would have been to have prevented Mr. DeGeorge’s fall if they had used a chair alarm,” stated attorney Laura E. Laughlin in a release. “Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital did not take the step and, as a result, the jury held the hospital accountable for its actions.”
According to a complaint filed in the Delaware County Common Pleas Court, DeGeorge was admitted to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in December 2014 for chest pains.
He underwent surgery to have a pacemaker inserted Dec. 26, 2014. DeGeorge was recovering from surgery well, but was identified as a “high fall risk.”
The hospital employed a bed alarm that would alert staff if he began to get out of bed so that he could be assisted and prevent a fall.
On the night of the fall, however, DeGeorge was given Ambien and was placed alone in a chair in his room without a chair alarm. DeGeorge tried to get up at some point during the night and fell, causing a brain bleed. He was discovered at approximately 2:50 a.m. bleeding profusely from his left ear, according to the suit.
He was described as difficult to rouse and suffered paralysis on the left side of his body, according to the complaint. By Jan. 6, 2015, he was not opening his eyes and responded only in one-word answers.
The pressure on DeGeorge’s brain worsened and required emergency surgery to remove a portion of his skull. DeGeorge remained an inpatient at Mercy until Jan. 20, when he was transferred to a hospice facility where he died two days later.