The call comes from the nursing home: your father fell and they are sending him to the hospital. A broken hip. Surgery. A recovery that, for an elderly person, may never fully happen. Or worse: a head injury, a brain bleed, a decline that started with one fall and ended in a death no one saw coming.
Falls in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and group homes are not just stumbles. For elderly residents across New Jersey, from South Jersey facilities in Burlington and Camden counties to homes in Gloucester and Atlantic counties, they cause some of the most devastating injuries in long-term care: hip fractures that lead to immobility and infection, subdural hematomas from hitting the floor or furniture, broken wrists and shoulders, spinal fractures, and in too many cases, death.
Why Fall Injuries in Nursing Homes Are So Serious
A fall that might bruise a younger person can be catastrophic for an elderly nursing home resident. Hip fractures are one of the most common results, and the statistics are sobering: a significant percentage of elderly patients who fracture a hip never return to their prior level of function, and many die within a year of the injury.
Head injuries from falls are equally dangerous. A resident who hits their head on the floor, a nightstand, or a bedrail may develop a subdural hematoma, a bleed inside the skull that can cause permanent brain damage or death if not caught quickly. And in understaffed facilities, these falls sometimes happen when no one is watching, which means the head injury may not be identified for hours.
Even falls that do not result in fractures or head trauma can trigger a downward spiral: pain, fear of moving, loss of mobility, depression, and a faster decline in overall health. For families, the fall is often the beginning of the end.
When a Nursing Home Fall Is Not an Accident
Federal regulations require every long-term care facility to assess each resident for fall risk and build an individualized prevention plan. That plan should include specific interventions: bed alarms, non-slip footwear, mobility assistance on a set schedule, medication reviews for drugs that cause dizziness, and proper equipment like walkers and grab bars.
When a resident suffers a serious fall injury, the question is not whether falls happen. They do. The question is whether the facility did what it was required to do to prevent this particular fall.
- Was the care plan in place? Was it being followed?
- Were there enough staff on the floor to carry it out?
- Was the plan updated after previous falls?
If the answer to any of those questions is no, the fall may not have been an accident. It may have been the result of failures in care.
How Understaffing Turns Preventable Falls Into Serious Injuries
A facility can write the most thorough fall-prevention plan in the state. But if there are not enough staff to carry it out, that plan is just paper. When one aide is responsible for 15 or 20 residents, a person who needs help getting to the bathroom will try to go alone rather than wait. A bed alarm goes off and nobody responds for several minutes. A resident who requires supervised transfers gets left on their own.
The result is a broken hip, a cracked skull, a hospital stay, a surgery, or a death that did not need to happen. Understaffing is not an excuse for these injuries. It is one of the primary reasons they occur.
What Families Often Ask After a Serious Fall Injury
If your loved one was seriously injured or died as a result of a fall in a nursing home, assisted living, or group home, there is information families typically want right away to understand what happened and preserve important records.
Request a copy of the incident report and the care plan immediately, in writing. These records will show whether fall-prevention interventions were in place and whether the plan was updated after prior falls.
Ask the hospital for the full medical record from the fall injury. This will document the nature and severity of the injury, which is critical for understanding what happened.
Take photographs of any visible injuries before they heal. Write down the date and time of the fall, who notified you, and what the facility told you. If your loved one can describe what happened, write that down too.
If the injuries are serious, or if your loved one died following a fall in a long-term care facility in New Jersey, speak with an attorney who handles nursing home injury and death cases. Time limits apply to these claims, and evidence can be lost or altered if you wait.
Frequently Asked Questions About Nursing Home Falls
A fall points to failures in care when the facility did not follow its own fall-prevention plan, did not update the plan after a prior fall, did not have enough staff on the floor to assist residents with mobility needs, or failed to use required safety equipment like bed alarms or non-slip footwear.
The most common serious injuries from nursing home falls include hip fractures, subdural hematomas and other head injuries, broken wrists and shoulders, spinal fractures, and soft tissue injuries. For elderly residents, hip fractures in particular carry a high risk of complications, loss of independence, and death within the following year.
The facility should have an incident report documenting the fall, the current care plan with fall-prevention interventions, and any updates made after previous falls. The hospital will have medical records showing the nature and severity of the injury. Families have the right to request these records in writing.
When a facility fails to assess fall risk, follow its own care plan, maintain adequate staffing, or use required safety interventions, and a resident is seriously injured or dies as a result, the facility may be held accountable for those failures in care.
Time limits apply to injury and death claims in New Jersey. These deadlines vary depending on the circumstances. If your loved one was recently injured or died following a fall, it is important to speak with an attorney promptly to understand the applicable time limits.
Schall at Law represents families across New Jersey, including South Jersey, from our Moorestown office.
Related Resources
Were you or a loved one a resident of a nursing home, assisted living, or group home and injured due to failures in care?
Better Call Schall® at 856-310-6782 or send a message through our contact form.
Important: Time limits apply. If this happened recently, contact us promptly.
This post is general information, not legal advice.
