Abstract: At approximately 10:30 p.m. on October 22, 2001, a nurse employed by the State of California, Department of Developmental Services, was informed by her coworker that a client needed help. The client was in a bedroom. The nurse discovered that the client had picked the skin on his arm and wiped the blood on the wall next to his bed. Hospital protocol required that blood on a surface was to be cleaned up immediately. The nurse climbed onto the bed and sprayed disinfectant on the wall. As she was getting off the bed she tripped on the bed and fell approximately 35 inches onto the concrete floor. She sustained a broken femur and hip and was hospitalized.