Port Richey Slip and Fall Attorneys

The top priority after an accident is always the health and safety of everyone on the scene. If you need an ambulance, call 911 right away. If you feel you can leave the scene on your own, it is still important to see a doctor as soon as possible. You might have injuries that do not appear right away, but a healthcare professional can identify them early on.

Concussions and bleeding in the brain might take hours to show symptoms. Internal bleeding also might not be detectable until a doctor monitors your blood pressure. You might not become aware that internal organs have sustained damage until hours later when their functions have been interrupted. The only way to know how extensive your injuries are and what treatment you might need is to see a healthcare professional with access to diagnostic equipment.

The other reason to see a doctor right away is to protect your legal right to compensation. If your injuries worsen because you chose to wait before seeking treatment, the insurance company can argue that your injuries are partly your own fault, potentially reducing the amount of compensation they must pay for your pain and suffering.

You need to hold a negligent defendant accountable for all the damage they have caused. To properly do so, you must see a doctor to determine the nature of any damage and its extent. If you do not leave the scene in an ambulance, you should still go to an emergency department or urgent care facility as soon as possible. Do not wait to get an appointment with your personal physician. Even if your doctor can see you that same day, they might not have the necessary equipment to properly diagnose your injuries (such as an X-ray machine or CT scanner).

Many individuals and companies can cause a slip and fall accident. Landowners have a legal obligation to keep their property safe from dangerous conditions. This obligation means that they must address hazards or warn you about them.

Retail store owners are held to an even higher standard of care because they invite the public onto their property for their own financial benefit. These property owners must actively inspect the premises and make it safe for customers. Failure to do so is negligence and can result in the store owner having to compensate the victim for all injuries and losses, something known as premises liability.

In some rare cases, a slip and fall accident is due to some other type of liability. Imagine that an elderly hip replacement patient must now use a walker for balance. A defect in the walker can cause the walker to collapse and cause the patient to slip and fall. The manufacturer might then be responsible for causing the accident through its defective product, known as product liability. The defendant who is responsible for your accident will depend on the specific facts of your unique circumstances, so it is important to consult with an injury lawyer about your particular case.

Many people come here to Florida to enjoy a sunny retirement, so it is only natural that our state has numerous nursing homes and assisted living facilities. It is important to ensure that our friends, neighbors, relatives, and loved ones are safe in these facilities. Nursing homes and the like are accountable when a vulnerable patient is injured while under their care.

So what should you do after a loved one suffers an injury at a nursing home? First, be sure to get an independent assessment of their injuries. The facility might say that they “seem fine,” but it is not possible to know this without getting X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, or other diagnostic imaging. It is also helpful to get a second opinion from a doctor not affiliated with the facility. Doing so will ensure that any suspicious injuries or treatment are identified by a doctor who is not concerned with protecting the facility.

Once healthcare professionals have tended to immediate medical needs and your loved one is safe, it is important to consult with an injury lawyer about your legal rights. Nursing homes have a heightened duty of care to the residents under their care, meaning that they are held accountable for any condition that makes it likely their residents will sustain an injury in a slip and fall accident.

If you suspect something more serious is going on, like abuse or neglect, it is even more important to consult with a lawyer. They will help you determine what evidence to collect, how to collect that evidence, and to which authorities you should report the incident.

Slip and fall accidents are likely to occur in areas with low lighting (such as a parking garage or enclosed stairwell). They are also likely to occur in slippery conditions. Be careful when getting on or off a boat or enjoying our other water sports here in Port Richey. The Boat Ramp in Nick’s Park, the Port Richey Waterfront Park, Oelsner Park, and Brasher Park can all have slippery conditions. Use caution in these areas and when hiking around the Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park.

Slip and fall accidents are also especially common at grocery stores. Produce can fall to the floor and get squished. Freezers can leak and leave puddles of water that are hard to see. Liquid products like detergent can spill and leave more puddles. All these hazards contribute to a high rate of slip and fall accidents at grocery stores. Use caution when grocery shopping at Port Richey grocery stores such as La Primera, Publix, the Walmart Supercenters, and other local supermarkets.

Watch yourself in general shopping and entertainment venues, too, like the Gulf View Square Mall and the nightclubs and restaurants in the Waterfront Bayou Business District.

Many different types of injuries can occur in a slip and fall accident. The injuries you suffer will determine the total cost of your medical bills and how much pain and suffering you will ultimately endure.

These factors drastically affect the amount of compensation you receive for your injuries, making it crucial to work with a lawyer who understands your particular injuries and what it will take to compensate you for them fairly. While there are many different types of injuries you might suffer, below are some of the most common injuries that our Port Richey injury lawyers see in slip and fall cases.

Traumatic brain injuries. When you slip and fall, the most dangerous area you can hurt is your head since the brain is both a vital and delicate organ. The skull and spinal fluid protect it, but it is still susceptible to injury, especially if you hit it on a hard surface, such as cement. These are known as traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Some TBIs are concussions, which might resolve on their own after a few weeks of discomfort, but even concussions can have complex and lasting effects.

TBIs can also result in life-threatening conditions. You could break a blood vessel and have bleeding in your brain, a condition that may not show symptoms for hours. In many cases, the bleeding is too severe, and the condition becomes fatal. It is of the utmost importance to see a doctor right away after any slip and fall accident, even if you do not feel hurt right away. In many cases, symptoms may not arise until it is too late to treat them.

Broken bones. Another common injury in slip and fall accidents is broken bones. Sometimes it is a simple matter of setting the bone and letting it heal under a cast on its own for a few weeks. In these cases, the insurance company will try to downplay the injury, claiming that you didn’t really suffer that much by simply wearing a cast. But the fact is that even a “simple” break can be painful.

You might have to go through physical therapy to strengthen your weak muscles after the doctor removes your cast. The doctor might even have to rebreak the bone to set it properly under the cast, an incredibly painful experience that can cause both physical and emotional trauma.

Of course, not all broken bones are simple cases. Some breaks are complicated by damage to blood vessels, nerves, or other internal tissue near the injury. Broken shards of bone can do damage inside the body before healthcare professionals set them.

Some victims have underlying medical conditions (for example, osteoporosis) that make it far more difficult to regrow bone tissue. In these cases, it will take more money to fairly compensate these victims for a broken bone because they have added pain and suffering. You need a lawyer who can prove the value of your specific losses.

Soft tissue injuries. One of the most common injuries in a slip and fall accident is damage to soft tissues. These are the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and other non-bony body parts. Because they are soft and do not have much structure, it is easy to injure them in an accident. Sometimes this is as simple as a sprain or strain that resolves after a few days of rest.

But soft tissue injuries can be far more complicated. They can also last a long time. A car accident victim who suffers from whiplash might experience muscle pain for the rest of her life. It could be mild, but it is still persistent. It takes a significant amount of money to compensate for a lifetime of suffering (even mild suffering). Unfortunately, the defendant’s insurance company does not see it this way.

Healthcare professionals will use a patient’s subjective pain and discomfort to measure the extent of soft tissue injuries. While x-rays can verify that broken bones are present, measuring the location and nature of a patient’s discomfort is really the only way to diagnose a sprain or strain, making it difficult to prove the value of a soft tissue injury.

Insurance companies know this. They try to convince injury victims that their claims aren’t worth very much if they don’t have a dramatic injury (like a broken skull) or treatment (such as emergency surgery). Remember, the insurance company is not on your side. You should not take legal advice about the value of your claim from someone who is actively working for the other guy.

Only your own Port Richey slip and fall lawyer can tell you what your claim is fairly worth. You have the right to receive compensation for all your injuries and losses. Your own lawyer will tell you what fair compensation is by referencing comparable cases. Your lawyer can also give you an idea of what a jury would likely award you if you took your case to trial.