In the 1990s, a popular advertising campaign aired on televisions throughout the United States. It depicted an elderly woman shouting, “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” This campaign was memorable for all the wrong reasons, and worse, the response it received seemed to make light of the very serious issue of elderly falls.
It is common for elderly people to suffer falls. They may be unsteady on their feet, have medical conditions or take medications that affect balance, or simply suffer from muscle weakness making it difficult to support themselves while walking or transferring from bed to a chair. When our loved ones reside in a nursing home, we expect that they will be kept safe. Nursing Homes have a duty to ensure that residents receive adequate supervision and assistive devices to prevent accidents. They also have a duty to ensure that the resident environment remains free of accident hazards. One of the primary objectives of nursing home professionals is to prevent residents from falling and becoming injured. Accurate fall risk assessments are required to be conducted by nursing homes for each resident and appropriate fall prevention interventions are required to be implemented based upon each resident’s needs.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
Falls can be caused by or contributed to by many factors such as:
Falls are terrifying and traumatic, and, in an instant, can change the course of your loved one’s life. In many cases, a fall can be fatal for the elderly.
The average cost of hospital care for a fall is $30,000, and that cost increases with age. That does not include ongoing care and the potential cost of having to change living arrangements, nursing homes, or the type of care administered.
Some falls cannot be prevented, but many — especially those that occur in a controlled environment such as a nursing home — are avoidable and should never happen. If your loved one has fallen in a nursing home, they may be entitled to compensation for their pain and suffering and for the cost of past and future medical expenses incurred in connection with the accident.
For legal help after you or your loved one has suffered a fall in a nursing facility, call Rich & Rich, P.C. today at [ln::phone] to schedule a free consultation, or contact the firm online.
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