Common Slip and Fall Injuries in Chicago

Slip and fall accidents are also referred to as premises liability cases. These are the main types of accidents. Most premises liability accidents are preventable and can be avoided. If the negligent property owner took their duty of care seriously and fixed a dangerous condition in their private property that could lead to an accident or post a warning, the accident would not occur.

When you have been involved in a slip and fall accident, you must determine what caused the accident and the responsible party is. After that, you should immediately talk to a premises liability attorney and determine if you can make a premises liability claim. A premises liability lawyer can as well help you determine the worth of your case. Suppose it is among the common slip and fall injuries in Chicago. In that case, a personal injury attorney will inform you and help you follow the premises liability law while filing an injury claim.

A slip and fall accident can occur on uneven grounds, slippery surfaces. It can be caused by objects that block pathways. Most of the time, the falls or trips do not result in significant injuries. This is because they are minor accidents. After a fall, an individual can just stand up and dust themselves. In the case where the falls result in an injury, it can be dire.

Some of the Most Common Injuries After Slip Trips and Falls

Here is a list of the common type of trip and fall injuries that can occur due to an unsafe condition in Chicago.

Spinal Cord Injury

A spinal cord injury can occur when a person hits the ground with their back or if they twist and overexert themselves while trying to avoid a fall. This slip-and-fall injury can lead to hernias, slipped disc, and when severe paralysis. These types of accident injuries are not easy to treat, and individuals with the injury suffer from severe chronic pain because of them.

Other additional side effects resulting from the injury include; fatigue, spinal cord damage, muscle spasm, and loss of mobility.

Traumatic Brain Injury

When a person hits their head on the ground when they fall, it can result in a traumatic head injury. There are a variety of brain-related injuries that an injured party can get after a fall. Minor or nonfatal injuries include concussions, bumps, and bruises. Significant injuries or head trauma include skull fractures, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and hematomas.

A traumatic brain injury can severely affect a person’s quality of life. They can affect how the brain functions; the person can suffer from a loss of bodily control and seizures.

Broken Hips or Pelvis

This kind of catastrophic injury is common among senior citizens when they suffer from slip and fall accidents. Even so, the impact of a slip and fall can cause a broken hip and pelvis to anyone. Most of the time, hips and pelvis accidents will need surgery. In most cases where a broken hip or pelvis accident is severe, it can end up affecting an individual’s mobility permanently.

Limb Fractures

If the force of the impact of the fall causes a bone in a person’s arm or leg to break, it results in a limb fracture. Senior citizens are as well more susceptible to limb fractures since their bones have become brittle with age. A limb fracture will mainly require surgery. After the surgery, physical recovery can take a long period of time.

As a result of the surgery, the victims of slip and fall accidents will have to wear casts, affecting how they function in their day-to-day lives. As a result of a limb breaking, it will lead to chronic pain, internal injury, and limited ability to move.

Shoulder or Neck Injury

A shoulder or neck injury can occur after a fall. The injury can also happen as a result of overexertion as an individual tries to prevent a fall. Neck injury includes muscle sprains, paralysis, and spinal injuries. A shoulder injury after a fall can result in the dislocation of a shoulder, collarbone breaks, or even torn nerves. These types of injuries are excruciating and will most times require surgery.

Torn Ligaments, Tendons, Muscles

Individuals get these injuries as they are trying to stop themselves from falling. The injuries are extremely painful; they require surgery and years of physical therapy to recover. Most of the time, people do not regain full mobility after this type of slip and fall accident.

The Average Payout for a Slip and Fall

When you get a slip and fall settlement, you will be able to cover medical expenses, you will make up for the wages you have lost, and have enough to recover from an injury. Slip and fall settlements will vary depending on a variety of factors. You should have information on what you should expect as financial compensation and the process involved while pursuing a claim.

Every case and every injury in a slip and fall case is unique. For this reason, you cannot use previous cases to help you determine the amounts of compensation you should get in your case. In minor injuries, the compensation can range from ten thousand up to fifty thousand dollars. The amount you get will go much higher depending on the severity of the injury.

Some of the things that will be considered while determining the settlement and type of compensation a plaintiff will get are:

• The medical bills that they have acquired as a result
• The expected future monetary damages
• Financial recovery for wages that have been lost as a result of the slip and fall
• Pain and suffering
• Any other additional recovery costs that will be associated with your severe injuries

Your attorney will need to go through your medical records and other existing documents to help prove your case.

How Long Do You Have to Go to a Doctor After a Slip and Fall

After a slip and fall, you should seek medical care within 72 hours. However, it is advisable to go to a doctor immediately after the accident happens. Suppose you are unable to consult a family doctor after the accident. In that case, you should go to an emergency room or walk into a clinic and be attended to by medical professionals.

Your health should come first. Some injuries may not be noticeable at first, like a broken wrist or a head injury. A head injury will mainly present signs that may be seen as normal such as a headache but can result in a brain injury.

Aside from making sure that you are in good health, you should visit a doctor immediately since it will help with your claim case. When you delay your visit to the doctor, business owners and their insurance companies can claim that your injury is not severe. They may even say that it was not caused by the accident.

Your doctor’s appointments and treatments when documented are beneficial to personal injury claims.

Why You Need a Lawyer After You Slip and Fall

The legal issues concerning a slip and fall case can be complicated, especially when you are trying to recover from an injury that could have been avoided if the negligent party took precautions.

The business responsible or negligent property owner will try and reach out and offer you compensation for the injury that you have incurred. Even so, in most cases, the compensation that they will provide you with will be meager compared to what you should receive. They will try and exploit the financial strain you're facing as a result of a slip-and-fall injury.

In these cases, the work of a Chicago slip-and-fall attorney is to ensure that they evaluate the amount of money that you should receive depending on the different factors surrounding your case. The accident attorneys also come up with various strategies to help represent their clients so they can get fair compensation during personal injury lawsuits.