Falls are the leading cause of injury death among nursing home residents, yet most are preventable with proper care. When understaffing, inadequate supervision, or failure to implement fall prevention protocols causes your loved one to fall, the nursing home may be liable for negligence and elder abuse.
Each year, between 50-75% of nursing home residents experience a fall—double the rate of community-dwelling seniors. Falls cause 1,800 deaths annually in nursing facilities. Yet the vast majority of these falls are preventable with proper care.
When nursing homes cut corners on staffing, supervision, and fall prevention protocols, residents pay the price. Hip fractures, traumatic brain injuries, and fatal falls often result from institutional neglect rather than unavoidable accidents.
Preventable falls typically result from:
California's Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act provides enhanced protections for nursing home residents. Under this law, facilities that engage in neglect or abuse face:
Liability for all actual damages, pain and suffering without arbitrary caps, attorney fees and costs, and potential punitive damages in egregious cases. The law recognizes that nursing home residents are particularly vulnerable and need strong legal protections.
Key evidence in nursing home fall cases includes:
Your loved one deserves quality care, not preventable injuries. Our attorneys have extensive experience investigating nursing home neglect and holding facilities accountable under California's Elder Abuse Act.
We work with nursing experts, geriatricians, and life care planners to document the full extent of harm and maximize compensation. Contact us for a free, confidential consultation about your family's situation.
Yes, if the fall resulted from negligence. Nursing homes have a duty to assess fall risk, implement prevention measures, and provide adequate supervision. When they fail these duties and a resident falls, the facility is liable.
Warning signs of preventable falls include: the resident had known fall risk factors, fall prevention measures weren't implemented, inadequate staffing led to poor supervision, call lights went unanswered, or the resident was given sedatives that increased fall risk.
Families may recover medical expenses, pain and suffering, and in cases involving reckless neglect, California's Elder Abuse Act allows enhanced damages including attorney fees and potentially punitive damages.
Consult with a doctor and an attorney before making decisions. If you suspect ongoing neglect, moving to a safer facility may be appropriate. However, document everything and preserve evidence before transferring.
California's statute of limitations is generally two years for personal injury. Elder abuse claims may have different deadlines. If your loved one died from fall injuries, wrongful death claims have a two-year deadline from the date of death.
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