Introduction
A fall for an elderly individual isn't merely a stumble – it can have life-altering consequences. Nursing homes have a profound responsibility to protect residents, preventing fall hazards and injuries. Yet, falls in nursing homes happen far too often, sometimes due to a facility's blatant negligence. If your loved one has suffered a serious nursing home fall, it's vital to investigate how it happened and whether someone deserves to be held accountable.
Why Falls Happen in Nursing Homes: Sadly Common Causes
Nursing home falls stem from a distressing range of negligent situations, such as:
Unsafe Conditions: Poorly maintained hallways,wet floors without warning signs, broken grab bars in bathrooms, clutter, or dim lighting create a falls waiting to happen.
Understaffing and Carelessness: If a resident needing assistance to walk doesn't get timely help to the bathroom or has calls for aid ignored, falls become the tragic result.
Medication Errors: Certain medications increase drowsiness, dizziness, or affect balance – putting seniors at heightened fall risk. Facilities must consider this in monitoring patients.
Resident-Specific Risks: Facilities should assess each resident's individual fall risk based on medical conditions and past falls, implementing individualized prevention plans.
Seniors at Risk: Why Falls Are More Devastating
What may be a mishap for a healthy adult can cause lasting harm to the elderly:
Broken Bones: With weakened bones, simple falls often cause complex hip fractures, wrist injuries,and other breaks requiring invasive surgeries and potentially leading to reduced mobility.
Traumatic Brain Injuries: Senior citizens suffering head injuries, especially subdural hematomas (bleeding on the brain), face an extended,complicated recovery path and sometimes lasting deficits.
Infection Risks: After a fall, cuts, scrapes, and bedsores can develop into dangerous infections,especially in residents with compromised immune systems
Wrongful Death: Sometimes, a fall isn't an isolated incident, but tragically the final injury in a pattern of inadequate care and preventable decline
The Nursing Home's Legal Duty: Your Loved One Deserves More
Federal and state laws set standards to protect residents, giving you legal avenues when facilities fail:
Duty to Assess and Mitigate Fall Risks: Proper resident intake procedures should determine a person's fall history and medical causes for unsteadiness to inform care plans.
Duty to Supervise: Leaving high-risk residents unattended for even brief periods increases the chance of preventable falls.
Duty to Maintain a Safe Environment: This is basic premises liability – reasonable steps must be taken to address hazards residents can't avoid themselves.
Proving a Nursing Home Slip and Fall Lawsuit: Seeking Justice
Document Everything: Record details of the fall,photos of unsafe conditions if possible, all injuries your loved one has sustained, and any staff comments about the incident.
Medical Records: Obtain your loved one's records as they'll reveal any risk assessments, pre-existing conditions, and the evolution of injury-related complications.
Incident Reports: Nursing homes typically file internal reports – your lawyer can access these through legal discovery.
Seeking Expertise: An experienced nursing home falls lawyer collaborates with experts who can review evidence and establish if staff violated reasonable standards of care, causing your loved one's suffering.
Don't Navigate This Crisis Alone: We Fight for Nursing Home Residents
Falls leading to serious injuries aren't random misfortunes; they often signal systemwide neglect within a nursing home facility. At Leitner Varughese Warywoda, we believe in safeguarding our most vulnerable citizens.
Contact us at (631) 240-4290 for a free consultation, or visit https://www.lvlawny.com to learn how we stand ready to help your family pursue justice and meaningful accountability.
