Moving a patient immediately after a surgery requires a coordinated team effort of qualified hospital staff who are knowing of the proper protocols involved in patient care. In any case where a patient needs transferring, clear communication is necessary to ensure safety.
In a case where a patient is being immediately transferred post-surgery, these protocols are especially important because the patient is often sedated and may be unable to communicate their needs. Immediate post-operative transfer requires that the team of staff members secure all lines that may be connected to the patient; provide airway control to manage the patient’s head, neck, and airway; move the patient with smooth, gentle actions; and ensure the patient is secure on the stretcher with safety straps with two fingers of space between the straps and the patient’s body.
Failing to use proper transfer protocols after surgery can lead to physical and mechanical risks to the patient. Falls and drops, dislodged tubes and lines, and wound dehiscence – sudden twisting or physical strain rupturing or tearing fresh surgical incisions – are all possibilities when staff does not follow protocol. Clinical and medical complications like hemodynamic instability, respiratory distress, and delayed care, are also risks of transferring a patient unsafely.
The rotator cuff, the group of muscles and tendons that stabilize the shoulder, is susceptible to injury when an arm is pulled or the body is moved improperly. When nursing staff transfer a patient without the correct technique, adequate help, or proper equipment, they can cause exactly this kind of tear. An injury like this in a patient who came in for knee surgery is a strong signal that the transfer was not done the way it should have been.
The Townsley Law Firm represented him and recovered a settlement of over $300,000.
Safe Patient Transfer Is a Basic Nursing Duty
Our client’s rotator cuff was torn because nursing staff handled him improperly while moving him after knee surgery, an injury that had nothing to do with the operation he came in for. Safely transferring and repositioning patients is a basic nursing responsibility, and it exists precisely because a patient under anesthesia or recovering from surgery cannot protect himself from being moved the wrong way. In this case, however, our client was moved the wrong way, and his shoulder paid for it.
Moving and repositioning patients safely is a fundamental, trained responsibility of nursing staff, and a rotator cuff torn during a transfer, points to that duty being breached. A patient recovering from surgery is often sedated, weak, or physically limited, and unable to brace or protect his own joints. That is exactly why proper transfer technique exists: to move the patient without wrenching, pulling, or torquing vulnerable areas like the shoulder.
The torn rotator cuff required its own surgery, and during that repair our client developed a severe infection. From there it cascaded into multiple procedures, hyperbaric oxygen treatments, and prolonged pain, all stemming from a transfer that should have been routine.
This was a preventable injury caused during a routine task, not a complication of the surgery he consented to.
One Injury Became a Cascade of Procedures
The surgery to repair our client’s torn rotator cuff led to a severe infection that multiplied the harm. What should have been one corrective operation instead became the start of a series. The infection that developed during the rotator cuff repair required aggressive treatment, and the complications compounded from there into multiple procedures.
His treatment included hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a treatment that delivers oxygen at increased pressure and is used to help fight certain serious infections and support healing of compromised tissue. The need for it reflects how significant his infection was. Each additional procedure and treatment carried its own pain, risk, and recovery, turning a single transfer injury into a prolonged ordeal.
The through-line is that none of it would have happened without the original mishandled transfer. Every downstream procedure traces back to an injury the nursing staff caused.
Who Is Responsible for a Patient Injured by Staff Negligence
A hospital is responsible for injuries its nursing staff cause through improper patient handling, both through the conduct of the staff and through its own duties to train and supervise them. Under Louisiana law, a facility can be held accountable for the negligence of employees acting within the scope of their work, and for its own failures in ensuring staff are trained and equipped to move patients safely.
Safe patient handling is a well-established area of nursing practice, with recognized techniques and equipment designed to prevent exactly this kind of injury. When a patient is hurt because those practices were not followed, responsibility rests with the facility that employed and was responsible for the staff involved. A patient should be able to trust that the people caring for him will not injure him doing something as routine as moving him from one surface to another.
