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Hospital Slip and Fall Accident Lawyer

It can happen at any hour, any minute, any second; you’re walking down the hospital when all of a sudden you hit the ground hard. It takes you a second to register what even happened. The embarrassment you feel causes you to quickly try to stand up, but you soon realize that something’s wrong.

Commonly, a hospital and other healthcare facilities abide by their guidelines to provide comporting strict, safety and sanitary condition for their patients.  However, majority of facilities unfortunately fail to adequately maintain clean floors and dry wet surfaces which can result in slip and fall accidents.  Such accidents that occur usually lead in minor injuries. However, sadly in some instances, other accidents can be the result of serious and life-threatening injuries impacted on the visitors and patients.

Oftentimes, visitors that come to the hospitals are individuals who have difficulty walking. Due to that fact, doctors’ offices and hospital managers/staff must take extra precautions to make sure their floor is not wet, slippery, or has any object laying on it.  Failure to do so will lead to liability for the hospital owners and manager as well as property owners.

If you or a loved one have suffered from a slip and fall accident in a Doctor’s Office or a hospital clinic contact our Slip and fall premises liability lawyers today at (310) 894-6440. An experienced  Slip and Fall Attorney will fight for your rights and make sure you receive the maximum compensation you deserve.

When a Fall Could Be the Result of Ordinary Negligence

Just as in any other situation where someone slips or trips and falls because of unsafe conditions — in a store, on the sidewalk, or while visiting a neighbor’s house, for example — a patient could be injured through a fall on hospital property.

In order for principles of ordinary negligence to apply, the fall would probably have to be unrelated to the patient’s condition and the course of their treatment. For example, if the patient is admitted for a broken finger, and while walking to the restroom she slips and falls on a puddle of water that has accumulated under a leaky ceiling panel, any resulting injury lawsuit would probably be of the standard “slip and fall” variety.

Slip and Falls for Hospital Liability

Premises Liability refers to the body of law that holds a property owner, or any person in possession of the property, liable for damages suffered on their premises.  In reference to “possession of property,” this can include any person who:

  • It occupies and intends to control the property.
  • Has occupied with the intent to control the property, and no other person has followed; or
  • Is entitled to instant possession of the property and where no other party is entitled to such rights.

Hospitals, like all other establishments, owe a duty of care to all inhabitants of their premise, whether it be a patient, visitor, staff member, contractor, or other member. In order to prove that the hospital is responsible for your injuries, there are several elements that must be present. 

In order to hold a hospital liable for injuries endured, there are plenty of elements that must be presented as listed below:

Duty of Care: First, you’ll need to show that the hospital owed you a duty of care. If you’re a patient at the hospital who is undergoing treatment, or even a visitor, the hospital has a legal obligation to you to keep their premises reasonably safe. Hospitals need to keep those people on their premises reasonably safe. The first step in recovering compensation for your damages is to prove that the hospital owed you a duty of care. You will do this by proving that you were at the hospital at the time of your injury. You have to be a person who was undergoing treatment, doctor, nurse, employee, or even a visitor.

  1. Negligence of Hospital While In Their Duties. For slip and fall cases, you have to show that the hospital did not clean a spill and did not dry the floor in a reasonable time. If the hospital did not put up a “WET FLOOR” sign, the hospital can be said to have acted negligently. For example, the hospital cleaning staff failed to mop a spilled liquid or failed to put up a “WET FLOOR” sign and someone slipped and fell. Or a hospital nurse or doctor left a cart in the middle of a hallway and a patient/visitor trips on it and gets injured in the fall
  2. Hospital’s Negligence Led to Your Injury. The point of this is to prove that if the hospital was the reason you got injured. If the hospital had not acted negligently, you would not have received your injuries.
  3. You Were Hurt and Suffered Injuries. Your accident must have led to an injury. If you fell but you weren’t hurt, then you can’t sue the hospital because there is nothing to fix.

Medical Malpractice Injuries

In order to have a valid Medical Malpractice injury you will have to show that the hospital was somehow unreasonably negligent in their duties. In the event of a medical malpractice case, you will also need to show that the doctor or nurse made a mistake that fell short of the standard of care that other professionals in their position would not have made.

There are several ways a staff or administration can act negligently that may constitute a liability, such as the following:

  • The nurse administers the wrong medication dosage, and the high dosage causes the patient to lose her balance and fall (medical malpractice).
  • The doctor fails to recognize that a patient has had a stroke and leaves the patient unattended who then falls as a result (medical malpractice).
  • The hospital cleaning staff failed to mop up spilled fluid or failed to put up wet floor warning signage (premises liability).
  • A nurse leaves an IV cart in the middle of a walkway, and a patient or visitor trips over the cord or equipment.

 You will then have to show that the hospital’s negligence was the cause of your injuries, and that had they not made a mistake, you wouldn’t have suffered harm. In conclusion, you will need to provide proof that you were hurt and sustained damages. If you fell but weren’t hurt, you can’t sue because there is nothing to attribute to the terms of fault in the hospital.

​MAJOR HOSPITALS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

  • Providence Holy Cross MC
  • UCLA Medical Center (MC)
  • St. John’s Health Center
  • Cedars-Sinai MC
  • Providence Little Company of Mary MC Torrance
  • Orange Coast Memorial MC
  • Kaiser Permanente Downey MC
  • St. Jude MC
  • Alhambra Hospital MC
  • Kaser Permanente Los Angeles MC
  • Kaiser Permanente Anaheim MC
  • Adventist Health Glendale
  • Kaiser Permanente South Bay MC
  • St. Joseph Hospital
  • AHMC Anaheim Regional MC
  • Centinela Hospital MC
  • UC Irvine MC
  • Long Beach Memorial MC
  • Mission Hospitals, Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach
  • Tarzana MC
  • Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian
  • Huntington Memorial Hospital
  • Keck Hospital of USC
  • Torrance Memorial MC
  • St. Vincent MC

We Fight To Recover Your Remedies

​Based on the specifications of your case – the details of the accident, how severe your injury was, it is ultimately going to determine what you could be entitled to sustain based on your case. However, what you can be compensated for if your case prevails can often be put into several different categories.

The categories of compensation can include:

Medical bills: Should you win your case, you could be awarded compensation for medical bills you’ve had to pay as a result of your injury. This includes both past and future bills stemming from the injury, and can potentially cover expenses such as transport or in-home rehabilitation services.

Lost wages: Lost wages can be awarded if your injury has caused significant missed time at work, or has made you unable to perform your job. You could be entitled to even more lost wages if the injury leaves you permanently disabled and unable to find consistent work.

Pain and suffering: In some cases, the damages endured from physical pain and emotional suffering can be compensated to pay for therapy treatments.

Punitive damages: Punitive damages are awarded in more extreme cases, wherein the injury was caused by someone’s recklessness. They are awarded to try and dissuade the defendant and others from acting with that level of recklessness again.

​You Don’t Pay Until You Win.

Contact a Hospital Slip and Fall Injury Lawyer  to schedule a free, no obligation initial case evaluation at (310) 894-6440. Our Hospital Slip and Fall Injury Lawyer will help protect your rights. And remember, You Don’t Pay until You Win, or You Don’t Pay At All!

Lawyer Referral Service

If you are in need of a Hospital Slip and Fall Accident Lawyer to help you get appropriate compensation and medical care you deserve, you should contact an Hospital Slip and Fall Injury accident lawyer today. Our experienced Hospital Slip and Fall Injury lawyers will help you overcome your Hospital Slip and Fall Injury injury or damage.

If you have any questions about the information provided above, please contact Legal Leaf. Legal Leaf is a Lawyer Referral that can provide you with a Hospital Slip and Fall Injury Attorney or law firm. If you do have any questions about a Hospital Slip and Fall Injury attorney please contact us for a free Lawyer Referral to a Lawyer.