Nursing home residents are at high risk of falls during the days following a new prescription or increased dose of a non-SSRI antidepressant. Increased surveillance should occur, particularly during the first 48 hours, in an effort to decrease falls.

When physicians make changes to a resident's drug regimen they need to make sure that those changes are made during weekdays.  Changes should be made during weekdays because typically that is when there are more staff in the facility and those staff are most familiar with the resident.  The staff employed over the weekend are often part-time staff that are not as familiar with the resident and are not as keen to notice behavioral changes in the resident.  

When elderly residents are first admitted to nursing homes they are obviously taken out of their own environment and are often confused.  If the resident is at risk for falls already the potential for falls is compounded with changes to their pharmaceutical regimen.  Physicians and staff need first to make these changes during the week and furthermore put into place appropriate and proactive measures to keep the resident safe from harm.  The harm resulting from a fall to the elderly causes them pain and grief.  When an elderly and beloved falls in a nursing home the family also experiences emotional trauma.  The failure of the physician and the facility to properly protect residents sometimes rises to the level of medical malpractice.

We represent people and their families that are harmed as a result of medical malpractice across Utah including the counties and cities of Beaver, Box Elder, Cache, Carbon, Daggett, Davis, Duchesne, Emery, Garfield, Grand, Iron, Juab, Kane, Millard, Morgan, Piute, Rich, Salt Lake, San Juan, Sanpete, Sevier, Summit, Tooele, Uintah, Utah, Wasatch, Washington, Wayne, Weber, American Fork, Beaver, Bountiful, Brigham City, Cedar City, Delta, Draper, Duchesne, Fillmore, Heber, Kamas, Kanab, Kaysville, Layton, Lehi, Logan, Moab, Murray, Nephi, Ogden, Orem, Park City, Price, Provo, Richfield, Riverton, Roy, Salt Lake City, Sandy, South Jordan, St. George, Tooele, Vernal, West Jordan, and West Valley City.