Chicago Nursing Home Falls Attorneys
If your loved one was recently injured in a fall at a nursing home near Chicago, the attorneys from Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC can help. Because of the natural effects of aging, seniors have a high risk of broken bones and other traumatic injuries when they experience a fall. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists falls as the number one cause of injuries and death for older Americans. Many families each year decide to enlist the help of a nursing home in caring for a loved one precisely because they understand the extreme danger of falls. If you have someone close to you living in an assisted living community, you naturally expect that establishment to be aware of the dire risks posed by falls. Tragically, sometimes nursing homes ignore the risks and put their residents in danger.
When your loved one suffers from a fall in their nursing home, it can be overwhelming. There is no compensating for their pain and trauma, or your grief. However, if the nursing home caused or failed to prevent their fall, you may at least be eligible for financial compensation. As the Chicago nursing home falls attorneys at Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC know, when nursing home negligence causes a fall, you can hold that business accountable by seeking damages. If your loved one has been injured in a fall at a nursing home, contact us today at 312-346-8620 to set up a consultation.
Do I Need A Lawyer?
If you want to recover as much as you can from a nursing home that has let your loved one fall and hurt themselves, you will need expert guidance. Negotiating with a nursing home can be difficult and stressful, but you do not need to do that alone. Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC is here to help you get the compensation you deserve. Our experienced slip-and-fall lawyers can represent you and your elderly loved ones and negotiate to get you the best deal possible. We will fight tirelessly to get you the compensation that you need.
Why Should I Choose Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC
Nursing homes are given the important task of caring for our elderly loved ones when they can no longer care for themselves. At Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC, we make sure to hold nursing homes to the high standards this duty requires. We ensure that our clients get the compensation they need and have won slip-and-fall cases worth half a million dollars. The elderly need care and protection, and we ensure they get it.
Cases That We Handle
A slip and fall is avoidable, but even a momentary lapse can lead to an elderly person getting hurt. The consequences of a slip and fall include:
- Bone fractures or breaks
- Medical bills
- Confinement to a bed
- Bed sores from being confined to a bed
- Loss of enjoyment of physical activities
- Pain and suffering
- Permanent disability
- Death
Falls can be very dangerous for the elderly, and they are made even worse by the fact that they can occur so easily. Whether the fall was a result of reckless indifference or just an unfortunate accident, the fact remains that there will be injuries and expenses that need to be paid for. At Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC, we believe that you and your elderly loved ones should not be left with the bill.
In Illinois, nursing homes can be held responsible if a patient is injured in a slip and fall. Unfortunately, nursing homes are not required to have liability insurance. This means that a nursing home might be unable to pay all the expenses incurred in a slip and fall. This does not mean that you cannot get compensation.
Our lawyers at Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC will look into the insurance of the nursing home and will make sure to collect what they can from there. If that is insufficient to cover the expenses, we will negotiate directly with the nursing home to get the best deal for you. We know that each person’s situation is unique, so we will make sure to tailor our negotiations to your specific case.
Some Common Causes of Nursing Home Falls
It can be difficult to tell whether a nursing home is legally liable for a fall. While these doubts are reasonable, it is crucial to remember that we expect nursing homes to understand, anticipate, and prevent problems that are foreseeable for their senior residents. They are legally accountable when they fail to show their residents the proper respect and care.
Falls should and can be prevented when nursing homes take reasonable, commonsense measures. Many common causes of falls are the result of negligence. A few examples of obvious dangers that lead to falls are:
- Obstructed pathways
- Loose or otherwise unsafe rails
- Poorly constructed beds or chairs
- A lack of assistance from nursing home employees
- Slippery floors
- Poorly-fitting footwear
- Broken or shoddy safety equipment, including bed rails, wheelchairs, walkers, etc.
- A lack of readily available walkers or canes
- New medication that could lead to dizziness or instability
- Improper protocols for getting residents into and out of bed
A nursing home’s reckless oversight can mean devastating heartbreak for your family. The law strictly holds those establishments accountable for their patients’ well-being, and part of that responsibility is carefully preventing falls.
Proving Liability in a Nursing Home Fall Case
Determining who is liable for the injury of your loved one while in the care of a nursing facility can be complicated and requires a thorough investigation by a skilled professional. To win a civil case, we will be required to prove three legal elements:
- Based on the care contract, the facility owed a duty of care to the resident.
- The facility breached the duty of care to the resident by deliberately doing or failing to do something.
- That the resident suffered harm as a result of the action or inaction.
Different parties may be found liable, including individual staff members, the administration, or the nursing home itself. It is also possible for multiple parties to be held responsible. A qualified attorney can look through the details of your case, evaluate your claim, and advise you on how to move forward during this stressful time.
Falls in Nursing Homes
According to the Centers for Disease Control, falls occur frequently and repeatedly in nursing homes. About 1,800 older adults who live in nursing homes die each year from fall-related injuries. Those residents who survive falls frequently sustain hip fractures and head injuries that result in permanent disability and reduced quality of life.
The CDC reports some alarming statistics about how big the problem is:
- About five percent of adults 65 and older live in nursing homes, but nursing home residents account for about twenty percent of deaths from falls in this age group.
- A nursing home with 100 beds will report between 100 and 200 falls annually. However, many more falls go unreported, which is likely much higher.
- The rate of falls for the elderly in nursing homes is more than twice that of the elderly living outside of nursing homes. Between 50% and 75% of nursing home residents fall each year.
- Residents often fall more than once each year. On average, a resident will fall 2.6 times per year.
- 35% of fall injuries are sustained by residents who cannot walk.
Falling can be a sign of various health problems common among older, more frail adults with higher rates of chronic medical conditions. They often have more difficulty walking. This is why nursing home facilities have special procedures to prevent these falls and federally mandated guidelines to care for these individuals properly.
Federal law requires nursing homes to follow a professional standard of care to ensure that elderly residents receive the best possible care and protect their mental and physical well-being. If your relative or loved one was injured in a fall that was caused by negligence in a nursing home, then call an experienced attorney immediately.
Frequently Asked Questions
Dealing with someone’s nursing home fall and subsequent injuries can be confusing. You likely have many questions and may be unsure where to turn for answers. Here are a few of the most common questions we get about fall injuries at nursing homes:
How much does it cost to hire a nursing home fall injury lawyer?
At Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC, we work on a contingency fee basis for personal injury claims. This means you don’t owe us any fees upfront. Instead, we collect a percentage of your compensation for your claim, but only if we win your case.
What kind of compensation could I receive for my claim?
Under Illinois law, you are allowed to recover compensation for a wide range of losses if you’ve suffered a fall injury due to negligence at a nursing home. The same is true if you are filing a negligence claim on behalf of a family member living in a nursing home who cannot speak for themselves (for example, if they have a degenerative mental illness). Some of the things you or a family member could be compensated for include:
- The cost of any medical care related to the fall injury, including prescription medication, doctor’s visits, hospital stays, physical therapy, lab work, X-rays and other diagnostic imaging, the cost of transportation to appointments, etc.
- The physical pain and suffering you or your family member has suffered as a result of the fall.
- Any mental anguish you or a family has suffered, such as depression, anxiety, or a diminished quality of life.
- Punitive damages if the nursing home acted particularly recklessly or deliberately caused harm.
What kind of evidence is needed to prove liability in a nursing home fall case?
You’ll want as much evidence as possible to get the maximum compensation for a fall injury. Some of the evidence commonly used in these cases includes things like:
- Your medical records or the records of your injured family member
- Testimony from medical experts
- Records from the nursing home (for example, documentation of when they’ve previously been cited for neglect or had other claims filed against them)
- Footage from surveillance cameras at the facility
- Testimony from anyone who witnessed the fall
How long do I have to make a claim for a nursing home fall injury?
The state’s statute of limitations sets the time limit for personal injury claims in Illinois, including any claims related to nursing home fall injuries. For most personal injury claims in Illinois, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of your injury. However, in some cases, the deadline can be extended if you don’t find out about an injury until a while after it occurred.
In these cases, the deadline to file a lawsuit is two years from the date the injury is discovered. Because many nursing home residents have trouble with their memory or suffer from other mental impairments, you may not realize a family member suffered a fall until well after it happened. A nursing home fall injury lawyer can tell you more about whether you may be able to extend the deadline to file a lawsuit in your case.
Contact Us
When your loved one falls in a nursing home, it can be difficult to decide what to do. An experienced attorney can help you determine whether you have legal grounds to look for monetary compensation. The nursing home falls attorneys at Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC are ready to offer advice based on the specifics of your case. Contact us at 312-346-8620 to speak to a dedicated legal professional.