Video: Nursing Home Falls Are Not Accidents | Know Your Legal Rights
January 15, 2026
Transcript
Nursing Home Falls Are Not Accidents
Have you or a loved one fallen in a nursing home? If so, I want you to hear this. Falls in nursing homes are not just accidents. In many cases, they are the result of negligence, and they are preventable.
I’m attorney Tracy Paulsen, founder of Rightful Legal, and I represent families whose loved ones were seriously injured after a fall in a nursing home or assisted living facility in Massachusetts.
Nursing home residents fall at an alarming rate, and when they do, the injuries can be devastating.
Common Injuries After Nursing Home Falls
These injuries can include broken hips, traumatic brain injuries, spinal damage, internal bleeding, and far too often, death. These falls usually happen for one primary reason: the facility failed to protect the resident.
Legal Duties of Nursing Homes
Nursing homes have a legal duty to keep residents safe. This includes proper supervision, fall risk assessments, safe walking surfaces, adequate staffing, and timely medical care. When a nursing home ignores these responsibilities, residents pay the price.
It’s important to understand this clearly. Nursing home negligence occurs when a facility or its staff fails to provide a reasonable standard of care, resulting in harm to a resident. That is negligence.
What Counts as Negligence
Negligence can include failing to assist a resident who needed help walking, leaving call lights unanswered, not using required fall prevention devices, ignoring known mobility limitations, unsafe floors, cluttered hallways, understaffing, or undertrained employees.
If your loved one was known to be a fall risk and the facility failed to act, that is a serious violation. Many families are told that falls just happen at this age, but that is simply not true. While age increases fall risk, nursing homes are legally required to reduce those risks, not ignore them.
Warning Signs Families Should Notice
After a nursing home fall, families often notice warning signs such as a sudden decline in health, unexplained bruises or fractures, changes in behavior or alertness, delayed medical treatment, and staff who avoid questions or give inconsistent answers. If you are seeing any of these red flags, trust your instincts.
Falls in nursing homes can lead to lifelong consequences, including loss of mobility, loss of independence, and emotional trauma that no resident should endure. Families are often left asking the same questions: Could this have been prevented? Was the nursing home negligent? Who is responsible? What legal options do we have?
Long-Term Impact on Residents
These are exactly the questions our nursing home negligence lawyers at Rightful Legal help families answer. We investigate nursing home fall cases thoroughly. This includes reviewing medical records, staffing levels, facility policies, surveillance footage, and prior complaints. If negligence caused the fall, we hold the nursing home accountable.
How a Nursing Home Lawyer Investigates
Accountability can include compensation for medical bills, rehabilitation, long term care, pain and suffering, loss of quality of life, and wrongful death damages when a fall turns fatal. Most importantly, legal action helps protect other residents from being harmed in the same way.
Your Legal Rights and Next Steps
If your loved one fell in a nursing home, do not assume it was unavoidable. Do not accept excuses, and do not wait too long to take action. You have the right to answers. You have the right to accountability. Your loved one deserves dignity and protection.
If you are concerned about a nursing home fall injury, we are here to help you understand your rights and your next steps. You can reach me directly at 617-821-5856.
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