Nursing homes have a special duty of care to prevent slip and fall accidents
Slip and fall accidents have the potential to be very serious for older people. In fact, one of out of five senior citizens that has had a fall will suffer broken bones or a head injury, and 2.5 million older people receive emergency room treatment following a fall, according to the CDC. Often, a serious injury from a fall is the key event that takes away a senior’s independence and marks a decline in their overall health and well-being.
The good news is, if the fall was caused by another party’s negligence, senior citizens can get help paying for their medical bills and certain other damages by filing a slip and fall accident injury claim.
What Makes Slip and Fall Accident Claims Different for Seniors?
When considering whether it is worth pursuing a claim with the help of a slip and fall accident attorney, people often want to know how much compensation they can expect to receive if they win. Typically, compensation for lost wages and lost earning power can make up a significant chunk of the compensation. Obviously this will not be available in the case of an injury to a retired person. However, there is a counterbalance to this: seniors are likely to suffer more serious injuries requiring longer and more costly medical care. Because pain and suffering is calculated based on medical costs, this means seniors may stand to receive extensive damages in case of a serious injury such as a brain injury or hip fracture.
What Makes Nursing Home Slip and Fall Accident Claims Different?
In any slip and fall accident case, it is necessary to prove the four elements of negligence: duty, breach, causation, and harm. In other words, it must be shown that the owner or operator of the property where the fall took place had a duty to prevent falls, that they breached this duty by allowing a hazard to persist, that this hazard caused a fall, and that the fall caused injury.
In the case of a nursing home, the duty of care to prevent falls is higher than in the case of a store or other type of property. Nursing home operators know that their residents are especially vulnerable to falls and they need to consider this when assessing hazards on the property. For example, a slight ripple in a carpet may pose a hazard to a nursing home resident with trouble walking, though it would not pose a hazard to the average person.
Get Help with Your Claim Now
,It is extremely important to consult an experienced slip and fall accident injury attorney such as Fernando D. Vargas right away after you or a loved one has an accident. Attorney Vargas will carefully review the evidence in the case and fight aggressively to secure full and fair compensation from the property owner or their insurance company.
