Nursing homes in Chicago and throughout the rest of the country provide vital services for individuals who cannot care for their personal and medical needs on their own. Though the young can find themselves in nursing homes, the elderly make up a large part of the national nursing home population. When many people of failing health and advancing age are all put in a single place, mistakes and accidents can occur.
One major problem in some nursing homes is falls. Nursing home falls affect thousands of people each year. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that around 1,800 nursing home residents die every year because of falls. Many others suffer life-changing, debilitating physical damage from falls that do not result in death.
A serious issue related to the fall problem in nursing homes is that often such incidents are not reported. The CDC suggests that in an average 100 bed nursing home, there could be as many as 200 annual falls. Not all falls are brought to the attention of medical staff and the families of fall victims, leaving some already suffering nursing home residents with unattended to ailments.
While many nursing homes take precautions to reduce the risks of dangerous falls, others simply fail to meet their duties of care to keep their residents safe. Nursing home neglect can create dangerous situations for residents who are under the supervision of such facilities because they cannot manage on their own. The failure to prevent fall injuries to residents may be grounds to file a lawsuit against a nursing home facility, but specific cases must be investigated to assess their suitability for litigation.
As reported by the CDC, serious injuries and death can result from falls at nursing homes. While some of these falls may be pure accidents and not the fault of care providers, others may result from nursing home neglect. Individuals who believe that they or loved ones may have claims based on a nursing home fall may choose to work with personal injury attorneys to investigate their claims.
