What to do if my mother was in an assisted living facility and fell and was injured?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
What to do if my mother was in an assisted living facility and fell and was injured?
She was coming from dinner and tripped over another residents walker in the dining room. The facility was aware that she was a fall hazard. She ended up breaking her hip. Does the facility have any responsibility?
Asked on April 2, 2013 under Personal Injury, New York
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
The assisted living facility is liable for your mother's injury based on premises liability.
When your mother completes her medical treatment for the broken hip and is released by the doctor or is declared by the doctor to be permanent and stationary, which means having reached a point in her medical treatment where no further improvement is anticipated, obtain her medical bills and medical reports. Your mother's personal injury claim filed with the assisted living facility's insurance carrier should include these items. Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement. The medical reports will document the nature and extent of your mother's injury and will be used to determine compensation for pain and suffering, which is an amount in addition to the medical bills. If the case is settled with the assisted living facility's insurance carrier, NO lawsuit is filed. If your mother is dissatisfied with settlement offers from the assisted living facilty's insurance carrier, she should reject the settlement offers and file a lawsuit for premises liability against the assisted living facility. If the case is NOT settled with the assisted living facility's insurance carrier, your mother's lawsuit must be filed prior to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations or she will lose her rights forever in the matter.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.