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Do Please get a lawyer, Something similar happened to my dad years ago. He had a small stroke and would have recovered but the hospital did not care for him well and developed ulcers on his heals. We (the family) noticed it and they said it just happened. next thing we know they wanted him transferred out to a Rehab center. He was at rehab for a few days when they knew his feet were bad. They pushed him out to a hospital who advised amputation. My poor father had his first leg amputated up to the stump. Sent him back to rehab. Another week and they sent him back to hospital to have other leg removed. within 1 month a small TIA (minor stroke) and this man lost both his legs. At that point there was no choice in having rehab so they wanted him out and we had to place him in a nursing home. He lived (if you want to call it that) for another 7 years. He just couldn’t get past the idea that so many doctors screwed up.
Drs/Hospitals will want to get the patient out of their place asap to minimize damages. In this case the first and last had to pay. the rehab place got off scott free.

Wow that is a terrible story. So sorry your father went through all of that. I am lucky that my father is a retired physician and he knows how to avoid these medical errors. He makes sure my mother or brother is with him at all times when he goes in to a hospital. He is 89 now and we have not had any problems.

My advice to the OP would be to hire a private spinal specialist ASAP to examine the patient. Medicare won't pay for it but it will be worth it to pay for it yourself. Don't waste money on a lawyer until you get a real medical opinion about what caused the spinal injury. Bringing in a lawyer makes the entire situation adversarial. If the patient has a degenerating spine the injury might have been unavoidable. It is inexcusable for the hospital to transfer him out before getting an opinion from a specialist.