In a perfect world, every nursing home and assisted living facility across Connecticut would maintain a safe, nurturing environment where each resident readily gets the care he or she needs, but unfortunately, this is often not the case. At Kennedy, Johnson, Schwab & Roberge, L.L.C., we know that, in many state nursing homes, the quality of care older adults receive is up for debate, and when the quality of care suffers, injury risks – and specifically, resident fall risks – tend to rise.

According to Industrial Safety & Hygiene News, nursing home residents experience falls at alarmingly high rates. So much so, in fact, that they are four times more likely to succumb to their fall-related injuries when they live in such facilities than they would be if they lived alone, or in the care of family members or other loved ones.

Nationally, about 1,800 nursing home residents die each year because of injuries they sustained during falls, and falls also account for more than 35% of potentially preventable emergency room visits by nursing home residents. Furthermore, the standard U.S. nursing home, which has about 100 beds, reports between 100 and 200 resident falls annually.

Many believe, though, that the actual number of falls occurring at American nursing homes each year is much higher, but that many facilities fail to report all falls, resulting in inaccurate statistics. Other estimates suggest that up to three-quarters of American nursing home residents fall at least once every year, with about a third of those falls happening to patients who are unable to walk on their own. You can find out more about fall liability by visiting our webpage.