Bolek Case Summary

Plaintiff Joanne Bolek had been admitted to Ahuja Medial Center in early November 2013, for complications from congestive heart failure and fluid buildup in her kidneys. Upon discharge from Ahuja, Ms. Bolek was sent to defendant Menorah Park’s facility for rehabilitation. According to Ms. Bolek’s son, Peter Bolek, they sent Ms. Bolek to Menorah Park to have her regain her strength, “because she was very weak.” B. Admission to Menorah Park On November 22, 2013, Ms. Bolek was admitted to Menorah Park and a fall assessment was performed and completed. Ms. Bolek was scored a point value of 12 on the scale which translated to her being deemed a high risk for falls upon admission to Menorah Park. This was the only fall risk assessment to be completed on Ms. Bolek during her entire stay at Menorah Park. After this assessment the admission nurse decided that the patient needed interventions since she was deemed a high risk for falls and decided she needed a bed and chair alarm. Cheryl Lukasik, RN, who was the Associate Director of Nursing at Menorah Park at the time of Ms. Bolek’s stay testified to the following: Q: Just to be clear, every new resident isn’t given an alarm? A: No, it’s patient specific. Q: All right. It’s done - - that decision is made after the assessment? A: Yes. …show more content…
Bolek suffered from frequent nosebleeds and had to be transported to the hospital emergency room for evaluation on a couple different occasions. On December 7, 2013, the day prior to her fall, Ms. Bolek suffered from a contentious nose bleed and nursing interventions were inadequate to treat the nosebleed. It was determined that Ms. Bolek should be sent out to the emergency room for further evaluation. Ms. Bolek returned form the emergency room around 11:40 p.m. on December 7, 2013. About a half hour later Ms. Bolek called the nurse on shift to ask for something for sleep because she was restless, at this time she was given