When you’re in the hospital, you assume you’re going to receive the highest quality care from the doctors, nurses, and other individuals involved in your treatment. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Sometimes, neglect or inattention leads to falls for patients who are in the hospital. These falls can lead to further injuries, disabilities, and long-term pain and suffering.
If you or someone you love has been injured in a hospital fall due to inattention or neglect in South Carolina, contact the experienced legal team at Hughey Law Firm today at (843) 881-8644 to schedule a free consultation as you may be entitled to significant compensation.
How We Have Helped Our Clients
At Hughey Law Firm, we have broad experience in personal injury cases, including hospital slips and falls resulting from hospital staff neglect. We have worked with clients to receive high-dollar settlements and judgments, often in the millions of dollars, for injuries resulting from hospital neglect. Our attorneys aggressively pursue the compensation our clients deserve. Our results include a $1,375,000 settlement for the family of an autistic boy who escaped from a group home and was killed by a drunk driver and a $975,000 medical malpractice recovery for a client whose newborn was injured during delivery.
Failing to Prevent Hospital Falls
Patients in a hospital require higher levels of care than they would if they were recuperating at home. Hospital rooms, corridors, and stairways are not necessarily built for comfort. They are typically hard surfaces that can be painful on which to fall, which is why hospital patients with limited mobility require supervision and measures that will help prevent falls.
The following can cause hospital falls:
- Confusion and disorientation;
- Unstable balance following head trauma, anesthesia, childbirth, and other significant medical events;
- Injuries that make it difficult for the patient to support their own weight;
- Slippery floors after cleaning and inadequate drying; and
- Slippery floors due to fluids that have fallen to the floor.
Hospital falls can cause significant injury. Sometimes, patients get “lucky” and emerge from a fall with just bumps and bruises. Other times, however, victims of hospital falls may sustain broken bones, sprains and strains, or head trauma, including traumatic brain injury.
Hospital Falls and the Parties Responsible
The liability for hospital falls can depend on a variety of circumstances. One of the most important elements in determining liability is the standard of care given by the hospital surrounding the circumstances of the injury. If hospital staff leave a disoriented patient unattended and unrestrained, or if hospital cleaning crews left wet, slippery floors in patient areas, the hospital may bear significant liability for those injuries.
The hospital is not necessarily the only party who might bear legal liability for a hospital fall. For instance, if medical equipment intended to protect or support a hospital patient fails, leading to a fall, the manufacturer of that equipment may also bear responsibility for the patient’s resulting injuries.
Working with an attorney experienced in hospital neglect cases can be the most reliable means of identifying parties potentially responsible for injuries caused by a hospital fall.
The Losses a Hospital Fall Can Cause
The damages a hospital patient who falls may be entitled to recover can include :
- Compensation for additional medical bills obtained as a result of the fall. Did your hospital fall cause you significant injuries that prolonged your hospital stay, required physical therapy, or otherwise inflated your medical bills? If so, you may be due compensation for those added expenses.
- Lost wages. Did you have to spend a longer period of time off work because of the injuries you sustained in your hospital fall? If so, someone may be responsible for paying for your lost wages.
- Lost earning potential. Did your hospital fall cause injuries that damaged your long-term earning potential, such as by causing a permanent disability? If so, then you may be entitled to recover damages to compensate you for your future lost earnings.
- Pain and suffering. If a hospital fall caused you pain, suffering, and other difficulties that you wouldn’t have sustained if not for the fall, you may be entitled to seek damages to compensate you for those difficulties, too.
The Hospital Will Fight Your Claim. Hughey Law Firm Can Help!
Hospitals and medical providers often attempt to deny liability in the case of hospital falls. They may, for example, attempt to prove that you were responsible for your own fall. The hospital may attempt to prove that they could not have been expected to provide any higher quality of care than they provided, or that there were other factors that limit their liability in the case of your injuries.
Hospital insurance companies may also accept liability, but then offer you a settlement offer that is significantly lower than the amount you should really be paid for your injuries. By working with an experienced attorney, you can establish the amount of the damages you can appropriately demand for your injuries, and show the hospital that you’re serious about getting the compensation you deserve for your hospital fall.
Get the Legal Help You Need Today From the Hughey Law Firm
Hughey Law Firm offers a free consultation for you to discuss the facts of your or your loved one’s hospital fall injury with an attorney who is experienced in the field. When our team agrees to represent a client for hospital falls, we handle the matter on a contingent fee basis, in which we only recover our fees out of any settlement or verdict that our client receives.
If you were injured in a hospital fall accident resulting from the negligence of hospital staff, the law may entitle you to significant compensation. Contact the Hughey Law Firm’s experienced South Carolina hospital neglect attorneys today online or at (843) 881-8644 to schedule a free consultation to discuss whether the circumstances of your hospital fall entitle you to recover damages.