Jacksonville Elderly Slip and Fall Accident Attorneys
Legal Help for Victims of Elderly Slip and Fall Injuries
For Florida’s elderly population over the age of 65, unintentional falls remain the leading cause of death and injury. They also commonly lead to further disability.
Falls May Cause or Lead to Other Health Problems
Understanding the health of the aging individual can help predict whether they will experience a fall. Instability on one’s feet can result from medications, a loss of balance, muscle weakness, the pain of arthritis, poor vision, high blood pressure, and confusion.
Medications can make a person unsteady on their feet. Pets are known to get under foot and cause falls. Your doctor may recommend you undergo physical therapy to gain muscle strength and balance that declines with age if a person is not active. Exercise builds strong muscle and bones, so in case you do fall, your body will be more resistant to breaks. Also make sure your eyesight is checked regularly so you don’t trip and fall over obstacles you don’t see.
What you wear on your feet can be a factor in falls. Researchers at Institute for Aging Research of Hebrew Senior Life have found that among elderly study participants who were followed for more than two years, more than half fell. Researchers concluded that elderly should wear some sort of shoes inside as 18% who fell were barefoot, seven percent were wearing just socks, and 27% were wearing slippers at the time of their fall which led to sprains, fractures, and dislocations.
My case was the only one of its kind ever awarded a judgement in Franklin County.
Injury Statistics
Nationwide, more than 1.6 million elderly find themselves in an emergency room each year as a result of a fall-related injury. The Florida Department of Health finds that more than 70% of those falls occurred to people greater than age 64. The cost to all of us in increased hospitalization is over $2 billion for fractures, brain damage, and hip fractures that are the most common injuries.
Surprisingly, hip fractures were found to relate to a quarter of all deaths among Florida’s elderly population.
Falls are also a major factor in the loss of independence. Hip fractures can become a permanent problem. Half of those who suffer a broken hip will ever live independently after the crash.
Safe Premises for the Elderly in Jacksonville
A jury can be reluctant to award damages to the slip and fall victim. That is why it is important to hire a Jacksonville premises liability lawyer as soon as you are injured. We will send experts to the scene to collect physical evidence of what may had caused the fall. Property owners are responsible for maintaining safe conditions so that visitors, shoppers, and vacationers do not injure themselves.
To fail to do so could mean they were negligent, and an elderly slip and fall accident attorney in Jacksonville can lend a hand if you have been injured by someone’s recklessness and deserve compensation to keep you living independently.
