F0684

J

Failure to Assess and Report Assisted Fall Resulting in Femur Fracture

Houston, Texas Survey Completed on 03-09-2026

Penalty

Fine: $37,720

Summary

The deficiency involves the facility’s failure to ensure that a cognitively intact resident received treatment and care in accordance with professional standards of practice, the comprehensive person-centered care plan, and the resident’s choices following an assisted fall. The resident was an older female with multiple significant diagnoses, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, anemia, stroke with left-sided hemiplegia/hemiparesis, cognitive communication deficit, muscle weakness, morbid obesity, and high fall risk. Her MDS showed she required substantial to total assistance for bed mobility and transfers, including dependence on staff for sit-to-stand and bed-to-chair transfers. Her care plan identified her as at risk for falls related to weakness and hemiplegia and documented the need for assistance with ADLs and transfers.

According to interviews and record review, the resident reported that on an evening after dinner she fell during a transfer from wheelchair to bed when two CNAs attempted to assist her. She stated her leg slipped forward, she heard a crack, and the CNAs lowered her to the floor. While on the floor, she reported hollering and crying in pain as the CNAs tried to get her up, during which her leg became caught under the wheelchair and then under the bed. She stated no nurse was called to assess her, and no nurse came to evaluate her for pain or injury at that time. A roommate later reported seeing the resident in bed crying and curled up, saying she had a nasty fall and was in pain, and that the resident continued whining and whimpering for hours.

Facility documentation showed no fall entry in the progress notes between the dates surrounding the alleged event, and the incident report later created reflected only that the resident was alert in bed alleging a fall a few days prior, with no specific date and no witnesses. The DON stated she was not notified of the fall when it occurred, despite facility protocol requiring the DON to be called for all falls, and that she only learned of the event days later when the resident complained of pain and swelling in the left leg. The DON’s investigation found that two CNAs had assisted the transfer when the resident slipped to the floor and that they claimed to have reported the fall to a nurse, while the LVN on duty denied being informed of any fall. During the period after the fall and before hospital transfer, documentation showed administration of PRN acetaminophen for pain, but there was no contemporaneous nursing assessment or documentation of a fall, and the family was not informed of the fall until the resident was sent to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a left femur fracture.

The facility’s failure included not promptly assessing the resident after the assisted fall, not documenting the fall in the medical record at the time it occurred, not notifying the DON, physician, or family when the fall happened, and not seeking timely medical guidance despite the resident’s subsequent complaints of pain and later-observed swelling and severe leg pain. The surveyors determined that the facility failed to seek medical guidance or report a fall that resulted in injury, including pain, swelling, and a broken femur, for approximately three days, and that the nurse failed to assess the resident after the fall. These failures were cited as noncompliance with the requirement to provide treatment and care in accordance with professional standards of practice and the resident’s comprehensive assessment and care plan.

The report also notes that this deficient practice was identified as Immediate Jeopardy to resident health and safety at a specific time and date, based on the delay in appropriate medical evaluation and treatment following the fall and resulting fracture. The Immediate Jeopardy was later removed, but the facility remained out of compliance at a lower scope and severity while it continued to monitor implementation and effectiveness of its corrective actions. The failures were described as placing residents at risk for delay of appropriate medical treatment leading to pain, discomfort, and death.