Lawsuit: Woman, 85, dies after falling from Las Vegas nursing home bed, lying on floor for 15 minutes

by: David Charns

Complaint cites wrongful death, negligence as claims

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The daughters of a woman who died after falling out of her bed at a Las Vegas nursing home have filed a lawsuit against the facility, a lawsuit filed Monday said.

Pamela Rumel was 85 when she died on July 11, 2022, according to her obituary.

In June 2022, Rumel was admitted to Silver Hills Health Care Center, a northwest Las Vegas valley nursing home, the lawsuit said.

The morning of Rumel’s death, she fell out of her bed, causing “her to suffer a right distal femur fracture and hemorrhagic shock with generalized weakness, right lower extremity pain, right hip pain, back pain and death,” the lawsuit said.

Rumel lay on the floor of her room “in extreme pain begging for” help for 15 minutes, the lawsuit said. She was able to text one of her daughter for help while on the floor, the lawsuit said. Staff then transported Rumel to a hospital where she died that evening, the lawsuit said.

A doctor, whose declaration is provided in court documents, said Rumel was “assessed to be at significant risk for falls,” adding that “her underlying comorbidities” and the fall “proved overwhelming” to her body and led to her death, documents said.

“The standard of care was not met by the staff at Silver Hills Healthcare Center in development of a care plan with individualized interventions to prevent this fall with significant injury,” the doctor said in his declaration. “The fall led to severe pain in her bilateral lower extremities, particularly affecting her right leg and hip. She also experienced nausea, constipation, and chills as a result of the pain.”

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed by attorneys at Bighorn Law, cited claims of negligence and elder abuse. The civil lawsuit seeks a jury trial and a minimum of $15,000 in damages, which is standard in Nevada.

Representatives from Covenant Care, which owns the facility, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Lawsuit: Woman, 85, dies after falling from Las Vegas nursing home bed, lying on floor for 15 minutes