Tuesday October 13, 2015 Falls Continued (Falls due to Fainting)

Today I thought we'd focus on the first cause of falls.  I won't ever be able to cover all of the various causes of falls that one can have but I can give some insight into some of the biggest causes of falls.

The first cause of falls that we'll explore is syncapol episode (or fainting).

The causes of fainting can be many and varied but the reason we'll focus on today is a sudden change in blood pressure, usually a sudden drop. It is up to a physician to determine the cause. Causes frequently include illness, sudden change in position (called orthostatic hypotension), or even bearing down to use the washroom and stopping. Another reason for fainting is holding your breath.  You won't kill yourself holding your breath but you will pass out, causing you to start breathing again. It's the body's defense mechanism.

A patient who is otherwise healthy may sit up suddenly in the middle of the night needing to go to the washroom, and the sudden change in position (from lying flat to standing up), which isn't so common during the day (as we're not usually changing positions suddenly during the day) causes the blood pressure to drop as the person has moved too fast for the body to compensate for the change in position and the patient faints and falls. In this case you may hear the thud, but it is uncommon for this patient to have or need safety measures prior to or even after the fall.

In my personal experience this particular patient may have no reason for the episode or it may turn out that they have orthostatic hypotension (their blood pressure drops when they change position) and this may just be the first time that anyone is aware of the condition.  After this initial fall, preventative measure should be taken to prevent additional falls if this is the case.

If the reason is illness, or if there is another reason for the fainting episode, the cause needs to be determined before proper precautions can be put in place.

These patients, like those who may just slip and fall- next weeks focus- may not have precautions in place prior to their falls. This is because many times these clients are at lowest risk for falls prior to their incident. Like any fall, it is important to evaluate the whole record and not the specific incident to find out what happened.

It is especially important for attorneys to work with the medical community, a nurse and physician, to help determine if there is negligence in this type of fall.