head injury (acute intracerebral haemorrhage and subarachnoid haemorrhage)
AI-generated summary
An 86-year-old man with recurrent falls history was admitted to hospital after a fall at home. He was initially assessed as low falls risk (11/20 on FRAT) but then reassessed as medium risk. Despite falls interventions including observation, he had an unwitnessed fall outside his room at 2:35am on day 2, resulting in acute intracerebral and subarachnoid haemorrhage. He deteriorated and died. The coroner identified that the initial FRAT assessment may have been inaccurate due to insufficient information about his falls history from family members. Key clinical lessons: obtain collateral history from family about falls frequency and pattern, recognise that recurrent falls warrant higher risk stratification, ensure early senior review after in-hospital falls in elderly patients on anticoagulation, and implement appropriate supervision protocols for high-risk patients.
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Specialties
geriatric medicineemergency medicineneurologypalliative care
insufficient information from family members about falls history
falls risk interventions may have been inadequate given actual falls history
unwitnessed fall outside hospital room
warfarin therapy increasing haemorrhage risk
cognitive impairment and agitation
Coroner's recommendations
Falls Risk Assessments should include, where possible, obtaining information additional to the patient's own account from relevant family members to ensure accuracy of falls history
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