Falls are a serious risk for many nursing home residents, especially those with limited mobility, balance problems, cognitive impairment, or medical conditions that make them more vulnerable to injury. A single fall can result in a broken hip, head injury, hospitalization, or a significant loss of independence.
Not every nursing home fall can be prevented. The concern is whether the facility recognized a resident's known fall risks and took reasonable steps to reduce them. When staff fail to provide required assistance, supervision, or safety measures, a preventable fall may be evidence of nursing home neglect.
Why Do Nursing Home Residents Fall?
Age alone does not explain every fall. Nursing home residents may have several medical and environmental risk factors that make falling more likely.
Common factors include:
- Muscle weakness or difficulty walking
- Balance or coordination problems
- Dementia or cognitive impairment
- Dizziness or medication side effects
- Poor vision
- Unsafe footwear
- Cluttered rooms or walkways
- Wet or slippery floors
- Improperly adjusted beds or equipment
- Lack of access to a walker or other assistive device
- Attempting to use the bathroom without needed assistance
- Inadequate supervision
A resident's risk can also change after an illness, hospitalization, medication change, or previous fall. Facilities should respond when new risks become apparent.
When Is a Nursing Home Responsible for a Resident's Fall?
A resident falling does not automatically mean the nursing home was negligent. Liability may arise when staff knew or should have known that a resident was at risk and failed to take reasonable precautions.
Staff Failed to Follow the Resident's Fall Prevention Plan
Residents who have difficulty walking or transferring may need specific assistance when getting out of bed, using the bathroom, or moving between a bed and wheelchair. Their care plan may identify the level of help or equipment they require. A fall can raise serious concerns when staff did not provide assistance that was already identified as necessary.
A Resident Was Left Without Needed Supervision
Some residents cannot safely recognize their own physical limitations. A person with dementia, confusion, weakness, or poor balance may attempt to stand or walk without realizing they need assistance. When the facility knows that a resident needs supervision or help with mobility, repeated unsupervised attempts to walk should prompt staff to reassess how the resident is being protected.
The Nursing Home Failed to Address a Known Hazard
Falls can also result from environmental conditions. Wet floors, poor lighting, obstacles, improperly positioned equipment, or inaccessible assistive devices may create unnecessary risks. The circumstances surrounding the fall matter. Determining exactly where and how the resident fell can help identify whether a preventable hazard contributed to the accident.
Why Does My Parent Keep Falling in a Nursing Home?
One fall may reveal a new risk that was not previously apparent. Repeated nursing home falls are more concerning because the facility has already been alerted to the problem. After a fall, staff should evaluate what happened and whether the resident's needs or safety measures should change. A second or third fall under similar circumstances may raise questions about whether the facility meaningfully responded to the earlier incidents.
Families should ask what changed after each fall. If the answer is very little despite continuing accidents, it may be necessary to examine the resident's care plan, fall assessments, supervision, and staff documentation more closely.
What Injuries Can Nursing Home Falls Cause?
Older residents may suffer significant injuries even from a fall that initially appears minor. Reduced bone density, existing medical conditions, and physical frailty can make recovery more difficult. Common nursing home fall injuries include:
- Hip fractures
- Broken arms, wrists, or legs
- Head injuries
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Cuts and bruising
- Sprains and other soft-tissue injuries
- Back or spinal injuries
- Loss of mobility
A fall can also affect a resident's independence. Someone who previously walked with assistance may require a wheelchair, rehabilitation, surgery, or substantially more help with everyday activities after a serious injury.
How Should a Nursing Home Respond After a Resident Falls?
The facility's response can be almost as important as the circumstances that caused the fall. Staff should assess the resident for injury, obtain appropriate medical care, document what happened, and evaluate whether additional safety measures are needed.
A fall should not simply be recorded and forgotten. Staff may need to reconsider the resident's mobility, medications, supervision, equipment, environment, or assistance with everyday activities based on what caused the incident.
How Can You Prove a Nursing Home Fall Was Caused by Neglect?
Investigating a fall often requires reconstructing what happened before, during, and after the incident. The resident's records can show whether the nursing home knew about a fall risk and what precautions staff were expected to take.
Relevant evidence may include:
- Fall-risk assessments
- Care plans
- Nursing and progress notes
- Incident reports
- Records of previous falls
- Staffing and supervision records
- Physical and occupational therapy records
- Medication records
- Hospital and emergency records
- Photographs or video evidence when available
- Statements from residents, staff, visitors, or other witnesses
Previous falls can be particularly significant. If a resident had already fallen several times, the records may show whether the facility reassessed the resident and changed the plan of care after those incidents.
What Should I Do After My Loved One Falls in a Nursing Home?
Start by making sure your loved one's injuries have been properly evaluated. Some injuries, particularly head injuries and fractures, may not be immediately obvious. Families can also ask the facility where the fall occurred, who was present, what the resident was doing, what assistance was supposed to be provided, and what will change to prevent another fall. Keep notes about those conversations and request relevant medical and facility records when appropriate.
If the nursing home's explanation does not make sense, or your loved one has fallen more than once despite being identified as a fall risk, you do not have to accept vague answers. Breit Biniazan can review the resident's records, prior falls, and care plan to help determine whether the facility failed to take reasonable steps to keep them safe.
Can You Sue a Nursing Home for a Fall?
A legal claim may be possible when a nursing home's failure to provide appropriate care or supervision causes or contributes to a resident's fall and resulting injuries. The focus is generally on whether the risk was foreseeable and whether reasonable precautions were taken.
Examples may include failing to follow a fall-prevention plan, leaving a resident without required assistance, ignoring repeated falls, failing to provide necessary mobility equipment, or allowing a known environmental hazard to remain. These failures can be forms of nursing home neglect.
Nursing Home Fall Lawyers
A serious fall does not always reveal why it happened. Care plans, fall-risk assessments, prior incident reports, medical records, and staff documentation can help determine whether the resident's injury was an unavoidable accident or the result of inadequate care. Breit Biniazan represents residents and families harmed by preventable nursing home falls. Our team can investigate what the facility knew about your loved one's fall risk, what precautions were supposed to be in place, and whether failures in care contributed to the injury. If your parent, spouse, or another loved one was seriously injured in a nursing home fall, contact Breit Biniazan for a free, confidential case evaluation.
Call Breit Biniazan at (855) 659-4457 for a free, confidential case evaluation today.
Our firm has offices serving clients in Arlington, Virginia, Phoenix, Arizona, Portsmouth, Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, and Virginia Beach, while our attorneys pursue serious nursing home cases well beyond these locations. If you have questions about the care a loved one received, contact our team to discuss what happened and whether we can help.
