Leesburg Lawyer discusses hip fractures after a Florida trip and Fall Accident
You never thought it could happen!! You were walking through a parking lot at night and the next thing you know your on the ground. You try to get up and you can’t because of the pain in your hip. Finally, somebody comes by and calls the paramedics. You are taken to the St. Lucie Medical Center, Martin Memorial or Lawnwood. The doctor takes and x-ray and tells you that your hip is broken and they are going to call in an orthopedic surgeon to take a look. The next day you get a new hip and then your off to the nursing home for four to six weeks.
After your surgery your family member or friend comes into the hospital and shows you that you feel over a large pot hole in the parking lot and in the area the lighting was poor. You say to yourself, no wonder you fell. You may have questions like: (1) will I get better? or (2) can I receive compensation for my injuries?
Approximately 75% of people who suffer hip fractures will not make a full recovery. What’s worse is that in many cases the hip fracture could have been prevented in the first place. In our example, if the parking lot was property lit, you would have seen the pot hole and walked around it.
About 90% of hip fractures occur because of a slip, trip and fall. While, sometimes, a fall is an unforeseeable accident, other times the fall that caused the injury could’ve been prevented. For example, if a building owner or manager knew that a floor was slippery and failed to warn guests or customers, then the building owner or manager could be liable for the injuries. This would also be true if a hand railing was broken and not fixed or if a stairwell was poorly lit and a person fell and was hurt.
In order to determine if your hip fracture could’ve been prevented, it is important to understand the cause of your accident and whether the building owner or manager knew or should have known about the cause. In order to help prove your case, it is important to have someone take photos of the area to memorialize the area. These photos will be invaluable in the future.
If you have any questions about a Florida slip and fall, you can give me a call directly on my cell at 352-267-9168.