Woman Files Lawsuit Against Nursing Home

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Dropped patients, common in nursing homes.

More common than anyone wants to talk about is the injuries caused by lifting and moving patients in hospitals and nursing homes. Not only are patients injured but a great deal of hospital personal have injured backs from the lifting and moving. Some hospitals are using lifts but not enough of them to save the patients and the nursing staff.

Women files wrongful death suit against nursing home.

A Southport woman says a local nursing home is responsible for her mother's death and now she wants the home to pay.

Friday the victim's daughter filed a lawsuit against the Ocean Trail Convalescent Center in Southport saying one of its nursing home's workers is responsible for her mother's death.

According to the lawsuit an employee dropped 87-year-old Willa Martin at the Ocean Trail Center January 4.

The lawsuit says Martin fell about four feet and hit her head on the concrete floor and died three days later from her injuries.

Martin's daughter's attorney says, the family wants the nursing home and the employee who dropped Martin to pay more than $10,000 for funeral costs and the family's pain and suffering.

This is what the U.S Department of Labor has to say about lifting injuries:

During the 1995-2004 period, more than half (53 percent) of the work-related injuries and illnesses among nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides were related to overexertion. (See chart 2.) Among workers in general, 27 percent were the result of overexertion. Most of the cases of overexertion among nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides resulted from lifting patients.