Falls are the leading cause of injury and injury-related death among nursing home residents. A nursing home resident falls an average of 1.5 times per year, and falls in care facilities are far more likely to result in serious injury than falls in the community. Hip fractures, traumatic brain injuries, broken wrists, spinal injuries, and internal bleeding are common outcomes, and for elderly residents, these injuries often trigger a rapid decline in overall health that can be fatal.

What makes nursing home falls particularly devastating from a legal standpoint is that they are overwhelmingly preventable. Nursing homes are required to assess every resident’s fall risk, develop individualized care plans that address identified risks, and implement interventions such as bed alarms, non-slip footwear, assistive devices, environmental modifications, and adequate supervision. When a facility fails to do these things and a resident falls, that is negligence.

Hughey Law Firm has extensive experience representing families in nursing home fall cases across South Carolina. Our attorneys have handled hundreds of cases involving unwitnessed falls, broken hips, head injuries, and wrongful death resulting from falls in care facilities. We serve families in Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, Greenville, Columbia, Myrtle Beach, Spartanburg, Florence, and throughout the state. Call (843) 881-8644 for a free, confidential consultation.

Why Falls Happen in Nursing Homes

• Understaffing: When there are not enough staff members to assist residents with mobility, toileting, and transfers, residents attempt these activities alone and fall. Understaffing is the single most common contributing factor in nursing home falls.
• Failure to implement fall-prevention plans: Federal regulations require nursing homes to assess each resident’s fall risk and create individualized care plans. When facilities skip assessments or fail to follow through on interventions, preventable falls occur.
• Lack of supervision: Residents who are identified as fall risks require closer monitoring. Failure to check on these residents regularly, especially at night, leads to unwitnessed falls where residents may lie injured for hours before being found.
• Medication side effects: Sedatives, blood pressure medications, and psychotropic drugs increase fall risk. Facilities must monitor residents for medication-related dizziness, weakness, and confusion.
• Environmental hazards: Wet floors, poor lighting, cluttered hallways, improperly maintained equipment, and lack of handrails create fall risks the facility is responsible for addressing.
• Failure to use assistive devices: Residents who need walkers, wheelchairs, or transfer assistance must have access to these devices and staff trained to help them.

Injuries from Nursing Home Falls

• Hip fractures: The most common serious fall injury among nursing home residents. Hip fractures often require surgery, extended hospitalization, and many elderly patients never fully recover.
• Traumatic brain injuries: Head injuries from falls can cause bleeding in the brain (subdural hematomas), cognitive decline, and death. Residents on blood thinners face especially high risks.
• Broken bones: Wrist fractures, spinal compression fractures, pelvic fractures, and rib fractures are common.
• Decline and death: For many elderly residents, a serious fall initiates a cascade of complications — immobility, infection, blood clots, pneumonia — that can be fatal within weeks or months.

Unwitnessed Falls

One of the most troubling patterns in nursing home fall cases is the “unwitnessed fall.” This means the resident fell when no staff member was present to see what happened. Unwitnessed falls raise serious questions about the adequacy of the facility’s supervision and staffing levels.

When a fall is unwitnessed, the facility often cannot explain how it happened, how long the resident was on the ground before being found, or what the resident was attempting to do. This lack of information can actually strengthen a negligence claim because it demonstrates that the facility was not monitoring the resident as required by their care plan.

If your loved one suffered an unwitnessed fall in a nursing home, contact Hughey Law Firm immediately. Time-sensitive evidence — including staffing records, surveillance footage, and incident reports — can be lost or destroyed if not preserved quickly.