Placing a parent or other elder loved in a New Mexico nursing home or assisted living facility is hard even under the best possible circumstances, but if your loved one also has mobility issues, you may justifiably feel even more trepidation about doing so. At The Harvey & Foote Law Firm, LLC, we understand that your concerns may well be justifiable, because falls that lead to serious injuries and resident deaths are alarmingly common in these environments.
According to Industrial Safety & Hygiene News, the leading cause of preventable emergency-room hospital room visits among older populations is falls, which account for about 36% of these visits. Many of these falls occur in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, despite the fact that many residents live in these facilities in the first place because they require extra mobility assistance.
Currently, statistics show that about 1,800 nursing home residents die every year because of injuries they sustained during falls in nursing homes, but this number refers only to the number of actual reported falls, meaning the real figure may be much higher. Furthermore, statistics indicate that the chance of someone 65 or older falling is four times higher when he or she lives in a nursing home than it would be if he or she lived at home, or alongside other family members.
Often, environmental factors, such as loose carpets, wet floors and the like, contribute to resident falls. Estimates suggest that these types of factors play a role in somewhere between 16% and 27% of all nursing home resident falls. You can find more on this topic on our webpage.
