Slip and Fall Accidents in Nursing Homes

It is common for nursing homes to fail to take responsibility when an elderly person falls on the property. They may claim that the older person was not supposed to be wandering around, or they may claim that the older person’s health has deteriorated. However, many slip and fall accidents are caused by nursing home negligence. Nursing homes should take extra steps to make sure that elderly patients who suffer from disabilities or weakness are safe on the premises. They should also make sure that visitors on the premises are safe from tripping and falling by conducting routine inspections of the property.

Slip and falls may result from a wet floor, cracks on the floor, inadequate lighting, improper bed height, improperly maintained wheelchairs, broken steps, or poorly maintained railings. When a nursing home patient falls and gets hurt, the recovery may be more substantial than when a young person falls. Generally, seniors have slower recoveries and suffer greater complications when they are injured. A nursing home should obtain adequate medical care for a resident after they are injured in a fall. Sometimes, a failure to provide adequate medical care after a slip and fall may result in greater damages, such as a need for prolonged care.

To recover damages after a slip and fall, you will need to show that the nursing home knew or should have known about the dangerous condition that resulted in the slip and fall. The element of actual or constructive notice may be hard to establish, but it may be established through, for example, video surveillance. The longer that a particular condition existed on the video, the more likely it is that the nursing home should have known that it existed and either repaired it or taken measures to warn residents about it.

Most nursing home negligence actions are also health care liability actions. This means that, on top of proving actual or constructive notice and other elements of the premises liability action, your attorney may need to consult with a medical expert who considers the facts and determines that a health care provider’s actions leading up to the slip and fall fell below the standard of care and that there is a good-faith basis to sue. For example, if other competent nurses would have checked in with a patient with dementia more frequently in order to stop the patient from wandering, a failure to do this may be a breach in the standard of care. If the patient fell as a result, it may be possible to hold the nursing home responsible for developing an inadequate patient plan.