That is so unfortunate.

Generally speaking, Negligence of a medical provider occurs when the provider fails to exercise the care and diligence that an ordinarily prudent person would exercise under similar conditions. What you describe certainly sounds as though it constitutes medical negligence because an ordinarily prudent hospital staff would know how to operate a reclining chair for patients and ensure that the head rest functioned properly.

An individual in your mother's circumstance will also need to demonstrate that the sudden motion of the headrest was the actual source of the reinjury and not something else. In law, this is known as "causation," and is the burden of the plaintiff to prove.

Assuming that you can demonstrate that the reinjury was caused by the sudden motion of the headrest and that the staff handling your mother failed ot exercise reasonable care in allowing the headrest to jerk upward (this seems rather apparent by the facts), an individual in your mother's circumstance would be entitled to compensation for all damages that directly arose from this reinjury, including medical bills and pain and suffering.

Particularly if this kind of incident was documented and the hospital has record of it, they should recognize their potential liability and be willing to negotiate a settlement that involves a reduction of medical bills, typically speaking. A letter to the hospital outlining what I have described above and requesting a reduction would typically be the best way to go about that. Or, you may wish to hire an attorney to write the letter for you, typically at a rate of approximately $200 (the letter would not take long for him or her to write), as this may cause the hospital to take your demand more seriously.

Finally, given the severity of injuries, an individual in your mother's circumstance may wish to do more than simply obtain a reduction on her bills--she may want to sue for damages of pain and suffering, as I noted above that she would typically be able to do.

For attorney referrals, visit this link: http://apps.americanbar.org/legalservices/lris/directory/main.cfm?id=CA or visit http://www.martindale.com I particularly like Martin Dale because the site allows you to search attorneys by practice area and also provides attorney ratings.

I sincerely XXXXX XXXXX this information helps you and I wish you the best.

My absolute greatest concern is that you are satisfied with the answer I provide, so please do not hesitate to contact me with follow-up questions. Also, please bear in mind that none of the above constitutes legal advice nor is any attorney client relationship created between us.
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