Paul Rooney was instructed to act on behalf of a care home company at an inquest before the coroner of Hebburn.
An elderly gentleman had fallen from his chair fracturing his skull and later died in hospital.
Paul was able to demonstrate that the care home had a ‘falls policy’ in place which directed that any president suffering a head injury should be taken to hospital immediately, in this case the nurse on duty failed to follow the policy and the gentleman was not taken to hospital for several hours.
The coroner commented that he had been considering making a finding of systemic failure on behalf of the care home, however following Mr Rooney’s questions of the witnesses as well as his submissions, the coroner had been persuaded to find that the cause of death was an accident.
There was no criticism made of the home by the coroner.