Granny on fire

[0861jro]

What is the name of your state? Ohio

My grandmother lives in an assisted living facility in Nebraska. She is and has been a smoker for years and requires the use of oxygen. She has an oxygen concentrator in her room and they have a portable oxygen tank strapped to the back of her wheel chair for when she goes out for meals, activities, and to smoke.

Grandmother knows very well that she has to have the oxygen off when she is smoking and ALWAYS shuts it off before she even opens the door to go outside.

Lastnight at 7pm a man who lives nextdoor to the facility heard someone screaming and ran over to find my grandmother on fire. All the hair on her head is gone, her face, arms, back and neck, and inside her nose, mouth and lungs are burned. Yes she was severely burned. She was flown to Lincoln to the burn center.

The nurse on duty said the tank was completely shut off and that it must have had a leak. When I spoke witht hem they were still uncertain as to when the tanks were changed.

I am a nurse myself and question a few issues legally. I know that you are supposed to maintain a set distance away from flammable gases with open flames. Were they not negligent in allowing her to smoke using the wheelchair that has an oxygen tank strapped to the back of it? Should they allow residents there to go outside and smoke without supervision or at least an emergency call cord in case there is a problem? Are they responsible for this accident financially?

Hold on before anyone gets carried away with the get rich at grandma's expense please. My mother and I share the cost of the monthly rent, her insurance and any co-pays or deductibles. My concern is with the expenses insurance won 't pick up? Also, the cost of a new wheel chair?

BTW, I am getting off the computer in a few hours to catch my flight so I can go be by her side. Just wanted to avoid any nasty comments. Sorry if I offend anyone.

Any information you have would be helpful. Thank-you

 

[rmet4nzkx]

What is the name of your state? Ohio

My grandmother lives in an assisted living facility in Nebraska. She is and has been a smoker for years and requires the use of oxygen. She has an oxygen concentrator in her room and they have a portable oxygen tank strapped to the back of her wheel chair for when she goes out for meals, activities, and to smoke.

Grandmother knows very well that she has to have the oxygen off when she is smoking and ALWAYS shuts it off before she even opens the door to go outside.

Lastnight at 7pm a man who lives nextdoor to the facility heard someone screaming and ran over to find my grandmother on fire. All the hair on her head is gone, her face, arms, back and neck, and inside her nose, mouth and lungs are burned. Yes she was severely burned. She was flown to Lincoln to the burn center.

The nurse on duty said the tank was completely shut off and that it must have had a leak. When I spoke witht hem they were still uncertain as to when the tanks were changed.

I am a nurse myself and question a few issues legally. I know that you are supposed to maintain a set distance away from flammable gases with open flames. Were they not negligent in allowing her to smoke using the wheelchair that has an oxygen tank strapped to the back of it? Should they allow residents there to go outside and smoke without supervision or at least an emergency call cord in case there is a problem? Are they responsible for this accident financially?

Hold on before anyone gets carried away with the get rich at grandma's expense please. My mother and I share the cost of the monthly rent, her insurance and any co-pays or deductibles. My concern is with the expenses insurance won 't pick up? Also, the cost of a new wheel chair?

BTW, I am getting off the computer in a few hours to catch my flight so I can go be by her side. Just wanted to avoid any nasty comments. Sorry if I offend anyone.

Any information you have would be helpful. Thank-you

There is obviously some risk with smoking around oxygen that is why it must be shut off and why smoking is done outside. It always worried me when my mother smoked inside her apartment around her oxygen tank. When she was at our homes we insisted she smoke outside, which she hated. She got busted smoking inside a hospital once. She quit smoking 1 week before she died of COPD simply because she couldn't make it outside anymore. THere is a risk of secondhand smoke to employees and would you be able to bear the increases cost of posting medical personal in the patient's smoking area in all sorts of weather? THat being said, IF there was a leak, defective product, there may be a cause of action, but if Granny droped a cole and set herself on fire or someone forgot to shut off the valve completely, there may be no cause of action. You may consult a personal injury attorney in that jurisdiction re your options.