Family to sue Galashiels home after dad’s death

A family are suing a nursing home after their father died weeks after suffering a fall.

Retired window cleaner Dougie Toolan, 90, fell and fractured his pelvis at Galahill House in the Scottish Borders and died three weeks later.

His family say he was left on his own at the Galashiels home before his fall but shouldn’t have as he had a history of falls.

Daughter Brenda Gibson, 53, from Galashiels, and who claims her father had been “sprightly” into his 80s, said: “We reluctantly placed him in Galahill because he developed Alzheimer’s and began having falls.

“We thought it would be safer for him to be in a place surrounded by nursing staff all the time.”

The family say in the hours before he broke his pelvis in August 2013, he had already fallen twice.

They also claim in the four nights previously, Dougie had fallen repeatedly.

While Alzheimer’s is listed as the main cause of death, along with acute kidney injury due to pubic bone fracture, medical experts reviewing the case for his family’s lawyers argue the fall led to Dougie’s hospital admission, his subsequent immobility and pneumonia.

Lawyer Natalie Donald, of Thompsons Solicitors, said: “We believe the home failed in their duties towards Mr Toolan.”

Lawyers acting for Galahill said: “We are not in a position to respond further given the ongoing court proceedings.”