Nursing Home Falls and Legal Responsibility

Serious falls are a serious problem, especially in states, like Florida, with a high proportion of elderly people. As many as 75 percent of nursing home residents fall every year, making these incidents the leading cause of injury for people over 65. These falls usually cause serious physical and emotional injuries. The physical injuries usually include broken bones and head injuries. Emotionally, many fall victims are so afraid of falling again that they basically become prisoners in their own rooms.

Because of these severe injuries, a Tampa personal injury lawyer can usually obtain substantial compensation in these cases. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering. Usually, the nursing home owner, which is typically an out-of-state holding company, is financially responsible for these damages.

Duty of Care

After arranging for medical treatment and addressing other pressing needs, a Tampa personal injury lawyer gets down to work. Determining the appropriate duty of care is usually the first step, as legal duty is the foundation of a negligence case.

Florida, like many other states, uses a visitor classification system, which can be rather confusing, to determine the duty of care in a particular case.

• Invitee: Victims are invitees if they have permission to be on the premises and their presence benefits the owner. Residents benefit owners financially and visitors benefit owners nonfinancially by cheering up residents. Since the relationship is so close, most owners have a duty of reasonable care in these situations.
• Licensee: Victims are licensees if they have permission to be on the premises but they don’t benefit the owner. Insurance companies usually automatically shove non-resident nursing home fall victims into this category. Since the relationship isn’t as close, most owners only have a duty to warn licensees about fall hazards (e.g. display a “Caution Wet Floor” sign).
• Trespasser: This awful-sounding word simply means a victim who doesn’t have permission to be on the premises and doesn’t benefit the owner financially. A pedestrian who uses the sidewalk is a trespasser. A resident or guest could be a trespasser as well, if that person violates the code of conduct or commits a similar infraction. Most owners owe no duty of care to most trespassers.

A duty of reasonable care requires owners and agents to avoid accidents if possible. Money matters often create a breach of duty.

Nursing home elopement is a good example. Sometimes, nursing home patients wander aimlessly. They could easily wander into construction zones or other hazardous areas. Well-staffed nursing homes post employees in hallways to keep residents safe. But almost all nursing homes in Tampa Bay are severely understaffed. Therefore, when residents elope, they’re on their own.

Knowledge of Hazard

To seal the deal, a Tampa personal injury lawyer must establish actual or constructive knowledge by a preponderance of the evidence. Let’s break down some of that Legalese.

Constructive knowledge basically means “should have known.” The time-notice rule usually applies in these cases. For example, if a trodden-upon and worn banana peel is on the floor, an employee should have seen it and should have cleaned up the mess.

The difference between actual and constructive knowledge could be the difference between a large settlement and a not-so-large settlement. For this reason, nursing homes often hide “smoking gun” emails or other documents until late in the process and encourage victims to settle quickly. If a lawyer settles a case before the best evidence is available, the victim almost literally leaves money on the table.

A preponderance of the evidence means more likely than not. Since this standard of evidence is so low, a little evidence, such as a restroom cleaning report, goes a long way.

Connect With a Thorough Hillsborough County Attorney

Injury victims need and deserve substantial compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Tampa, contact Kobal Law. We routinely handle matters throughout the Sunshine State.

Source:

cdc.gov/falls/data-research/index.html