When Nursing Home Negligence Leads to Slips and Falls

Entrusting your senior to someone else’s care is one of the toughest decisions you can make. When you realize that you can no longer provide the care that they need, you do your best to find a place for them where they will be comfortable and receive the very best care you can afford. It can be incredibly upsetting to learn that your senior has been injured at the very place that you worked so hard to find.

The nursing home abuse lawyers at Randall & Stump, Criminal Defense Attorneys believe that our seniors deserve the very best. That’s why we fight for your senior’s rights if they’ve been harmed as a result of nursing home abuse or neglect. If your senior has been injured and you suspect it was the nursing home’s fault, give us a call at (980) 237-4579 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation.

Lack of Maintenance

One of the issues that can lead to slips and falls in nursing homes is a lack of maintenance of the facilities. Here are some common maintenance issues that can lead to a slip and fall:

• Torn carpeting or loose or broken flooring
• Loose or missing handrails
• Water leaks leading to pooling water and wet floors
• Poor lighting
• Loose thresholds and other tripping hazards

Nursing homes have a legal duty to ensure that the premises are safe for the residents, perhaps even more stringent than other residential facilities. If the nursing home staff knew or should have known of an apparent maintenance issue, the nursing home may be liable for any slip and fall accidents that result in injury.

Lack of Supervision

Another potential issue is whether the residents are being properly supervised. Many nursing homes are severely understaffed, resulting in too few staff people to meet the residents’ needs. Alternatively, the staff themselves may not be properly supervised, meaning that they are not being as vigilant as they should be.

Without adequate supervision, seniors who need help may be moving around the nursing home without assistance. Slip and fall accidents can easily occur if they are suffering from any of the following:

• Mobility issues
• Poor eyesight
• Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease
• Lack of balance

Your senior’s nursing home promises a certain level of assistance as part of their day-to-day care. When your senior falls because they were left unsupervised, the nursing home may be held liable for their injuries.

Lack of Care

Closely related to supervision, some falls are simply the result of the staff has failed to provide adequate care for your senior. Your senior may be left to get themselves to the restroom or bathe themselves because the staff won’t provide the help they need. Similarly, they may be moving around the home without their walker or cane because they can’t find it or think they don’t need it, compounding an already dangerous situation.

Lack of Training

Slip and fall accidents in nursing homes can also be caused by a lack of training. Nursing home staff need to be properly trained in how to help someone get out of bed, get into a wheelchair, or move about the facility. If the staff members are not trained in how to properly help your senior, it could easily lead to a fall that never should have happened.

It’s also important that facilities staff be properly trained to spot potential hazards such as the maintenance issues described above. If they haven’t been trained to routinely inspect the premises and what to look for, there could be several hazards that could result in a slip and fall accident.

Many Slip and Fall Accidents in Nursing Homes Are A Combination of Factors

The reality is that there is rarely one factor that caused your senior’s fall. Nursing homes that have inadequate supervision, also fail to properly train their staff, ensure that residents are receiving adequate care, or perform routine maintenance and upkeep. If your senior was injured in a fall at their nursing home, chances are it wasn’t just a simple accident – it’s very likely that the nursing home was negligent.

Contact a Charlotte Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Lawyer

If your senior has been injured as a result of the nursing home’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. At Randall & Stump, PLLC, we have the knowledge and experience to hold the nursing home accountable for failing to provide the care you paid for. If you’d like a free consultation to discuss your case, simply call us at (980) 237-4579 or fill out our online contact form.