If you’ve been injured in a fall, reach out to one of the San Francisco, CA, personal injury attorneys at Cartwright Law Firm today to discuss your case. Read on to learn about the various types of injuries that occur as a result of a fall and in what settings you can recover when they occur.
Being injured in a fall, whether while working or when out on the town, may entitle you to financial compensation. When a property owner or business fails to use reasonable care, and you have been injured as a result of a fall hazard, compensation for your injuries and damages is often available. Knowing what kinds of injuries might occur as a result of your fall can help to frame what medical attention you should seek and what damages are available as a result of the injury.
Collecting Damages Depends upon the Liability of Other Parties
When a person slips and falls in their own home as a result of a hazard they caused, like leaving something on the floor then slipping on it, an individual’s own health insurance would be turned to for coverage of their injuries. It is when another party is at fault that you are entitled to damages that cover your medical expenses and other losses.
A party is at fault when they have violated some duty towards you in terms of safety, and all people have a duty to behave reasonably and to not place others at risk of harm. If you are in a common space of an apartment complex, your landlord has a duty to keep the area safe and to guard against injury. Public places like stores have a duty to their customers to maintain the safety of the premises.
Knowing when you are entitled to damages and compensation for your injuries can be complicated, and a local San Francisco personal injury attorney can help.
Falls Can Cause Neck and Back Injuries
A fall often leads to a traumatic impact to the body and can cause minor injuries like bruising, but also severe disabling injuries and death. When someone fails to have sufficient safety precautions in place to prevent falls, they are liable to the fall victim for their injuries, which commonly include neck and back injuries.
Injuries to the neck and back can include:
- Soft tissue strains, sprains, and tears
- Fractures
- Dislocations
- Spinal injuries
These injuries can be highly painful and can limit your range of motion. Many people need to attend a lengthy course of physical therapy to recover, and they might not be able to work or complete basic household tasks while they are recovering. Neck and back injuries can also lead to chronic problems, including ongoing pain and weakness, as well as a greater tendency to reinjure yourself in the future.
Slip and Falls Can Cause Nerve Damage
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke explains that damage to the peripheral nervous system can occur as a result of many conditions and impacts the communication network in your body that sends signals between the brain, spinal cord, and the other parts of your body. The proper functioning of your central nervous system can be impacted by the damage done through a fall and can cause a wide variety of symptoms, like your feet feeling cold and numb despite being in a warm room in socks.
Your central nervous system is responsible for coordinating the movement of your body, directing muscles to contract when you want to move and controlling the other functions of your body, including digestion, sexual function, the immune system, digestion, and even your heart and blood vessels. Nerve damage can impact one or more of these functions for quite some time.
Damage from a fall can be long-term and far-reaching if it has impacted your central nervous system. Nerve damage may make you unable to control your muscles as before or can cause numbness or tingling sensations in impacted areas. It is also possible that your brain itself may be injured as a result of the impact from a fall, as discussed below.
Brain Injuries can Occur as a Result of Falls
A fall is a traumatic impact to the body, and it often causes parts of the body to strike a solid object or surface with little resistance. This can cause not only damage to the soft tissues and bones of the body, but also to the brain. When you hit your head in a fall, which is common, your brain can shift inside your head and hit the hard bone of your cranium. This can cause damage to your delicate brain tissue that varies in terms of severity from mild to severe.
Symptoms of mild brain injury can be a change in behavior following the accident, difficulty concentrating, and other symptoms that generally subside within a few weeks or months. Moderate brain injury may manifest with more concerning symptoms, including difficulties sleeping, significant changes in behavior, depression, disorientation, cognitive impairments, and other symptoms that often subside within a year, but may last longer. Severe brain injury can cause longer-term unconsciousness, bouts of sleeping, fainting, seizures, the inability to stand, liquid discharge from the nose and ears, and serious cognitive or physical impairments.
If there are any signs of a possible brain injury or if you hit your head at all, you should seek immediate medical attention. Many of the symptoms of mild to moderate brain injury may go unnoticed or be attributed to other causes. Seeking the necessary medical attention will make sure your brain injury is properly diagnosed, while also reaching out to a personal injury attorney after your accident will help you seek the compensation you deserve for your medical expenses and other losses.
Contact an Attorney to Explore Your Case Options Now
Fall accidents can result in serious injuries that require medical treatment and might have lasting effects. Someone else might be liable for your losses, so it is important to learn about your rights. To discuss your case, contact us to schedule a free consultation with one of the San Francisco, CA personal injury attorneys with Cartwright Law Firm Today, call toll free (415) 851-6486.
The post Common Injuries from Falls appeared first on The Cartwright Law Firm, Inc..