Should I Go to the Doctor After Falling Down Stairs?

According to an American Housing Survey, almost half of all American households have at least one set of stairs inside their homes. Stairs are generally a necessity for homes with multiple floors, but they also can pose a serious safety hazard. Every year, millions of Americans sustain injuries as a result of falling down a few or an entire flight of stairs. A survey released in 2017 stated falling down stairs accounts for more than one million injuries per year. Several factors cause the more than one million injuries that result from falling down stairs, with slip and fall accidents sitting at the top of the list of the most common causes of tumbling down a flight of stairs.

Because of the distance of a fall and the speed at which the body tumbles down stairs, the injuries sustained from slip and fall accidents can be serious. Some of the serious injuries that require immediate medical care after falling down stairs include brain trauma, compound fractures, and spinal cord damage. If you fell down a flight of stairs, you might ask yourself, “Should I go to the doctor after falling down stairs?” The answer is you should not hesitate to seek medical care even if you do not feel any of the symptoms associated with an injury.

In addition to receiving medical care after falling down stairs, you also should contact an experienced personal injury attorney who specializes in handling cases that involve slip and fall accidents. An experienced lawyer conducts an exhaustive investigation to determine whether negligence played a role in causing you harm. Physical evidence such as photos shot at the scene of slip and fall accidents help victims build strong enough cases to file persuasive insurance claims and civil lawsuits that seek monetary damages. A personal injury attorney who specializes in handling cases involving slip and fall accidents also ensures you file a civil lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations.

At Morgan and Morgan, we have represented clients who required legal support for a personal injury incident for more than 35 years. We handle a wide variety of cases that involve slip and fall accidents, including representing clients that sustained injuries after falling down stairs. Since Morgan and Morgan opened its first office in 1988, our personal injury attorneys have recovered more than $20 billion in compensation for our clients.

To learn more about how we can help you receive the compensation that you deserve, schedule a free case evaluation today with one of the personal injury attorneys at Morgan and Morgan.

What Factors Cause the Most Stairway Slip and Fall Accidents?

When you meet with a Morgan and Morgan personal injury lawyer for a free case evaluation, one of the first items on the agenda concerns determining the cause of your fall down the stairs. Once your attorney determines the cause of your injuries, the next step is to see if negligence played a part in causing a stairway slip and fall accident.

With more than three decades of experience, Morgan and Morgan has compiled a list of the most common factors that stairway slip and fall accidents.

Slick Surface

Whether it is moisture on a floor or stairs, slick surfaces represent the most common causes of slip and fall accidents involving a flight of stairs. If you slipped and fell down a stair because of a slick surface, taking photographs of the area where you slipped and fell can provide you with enough compelling evidence to demonstrate the presence of the four elements of negligence.

Loose Flooring/Carpeting

Many stairs are designed with carpeting, which can break loose from a stair to present a safety hazard. Since we typically do not look down when navigating a flight of stairs, loose flooring or carpeting can cause a slip and fall that results in severe injuries, such as a dislocated hip or spinal cord damage.

Defective Handrails

Handrails provide support to help us keep our balance when ascending and descending flights of stairs. If you grab a handrail that breaks free from a wall, you lose balance and start to tumble down a series of stairs. Because of the speed of a fall caused by a defective handrail, the resulting injuries might require emergency medical care.

Poor Lighting

Even if you focus on each step that you take on a flight of stairs, you can still slip and fall because of poor lighting. Maybe poor lighting caused you to miss a toy sitting on one of the stairs or the lack of illumination made you miscalculate the distance between steps. Both businesses and homeowners owe visitors a duty of care to provide sufficient lighting for a flight of stairs.

Different Heights of Stairs

We typically assume the height of each stair remains constant throughout an entire flight. However, riser heights among stairs can differ, which can cause someone to misjudge the height of a stair. If you do not see a riser height difference or there is not a sign warning you of a riser height difference, you might not place your foot high enough to reach a stair.

What Types of Legal Support Do Slip and Fall Accident Attorneys Provide?

The personal injury attorney that you hire from Morgan and Morgan provides a wide variety of legal support.

Recommends Healthcare Providers

If you ask, “Should I go to the doctor after falling down stairs?,” the attorney from Morgan and Morgan handling your case will not only encourage you to receive medical care but will also provide recommendations for specialists. Falling down stairs often causes serious injuries that require considerable time to heal. Your personal injury lawyer might suggest a specialist to monitor your progress during physical therapy sessions.

Conducts a Detailed Investigation

If you fell down a flight of stairs at a business, a manager or owner should have sent an incident report to your personal injury attorney. Nonetheless, your lawyer conducts a thorough investigation that includes gathering physical evidence and interviewing witnesses. At Morgan and Morgan, we pair one of our licensed, in-house investigators to work with an attorney during the investigation of slip and fall accidents.

Calculates a Fair Value for Compensation

You have two sources of compensation for a case that involves falling down stairs. First, you should file a claim with the proper insurance company. Second, you have the right to file a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages. The key to receiving compensation is for your lawyer to calculate a reasonable value. This means not only adding up the cost of medical bills but also taking into account non-economic damages such as the costs associated with pain and suffering.

Acts as a Buffer Between You and the Insurance Company

Why do insurance companies want claimants to file claims without the legal support of an attorney? The answer is insurance companies are notorious for taking advantage of claimants that do not get legal representation. If you file an insurance claim without the help of an experienced personal injury attorney, the insurance company might deny a valid claim or approve a claim for a value that falls well below what you deserve. The Morgan and Morgan personal injury lawyer assigned to your case handles every insurance matter, which frees up more of your time to address important issues such as recovering from one or more injuries.

Negotiate a Settlement

A majority of personal injury lawsuits never see the light inside a courtroom. Instead, both parties try to negotiate a settlement to prevent a case from reaching the trial phase of the litigation process. Negotiations start when your attorney submits a reasonable value for compensation that the other party can either accept, reject, or send back with a counteroffer. A series of counteroffers can follow until both parties agree to a favorable settlement or decide to take the case to trial.

Prove Negligence

Showing another party committed one or more acts of negligence that caused you harm requires proving the presence of the four elements of negligence. Your attorney must demonstrate another party owed you a duty of care to prevent you from falling down stairs. Next, the personal injury lawyer assigned to your case by Morgan and Morgan must submit convincing evidence that shows another party breached the duty of care doctrine. You must also present evidence that the fall caused your injuries, which resulted in financial losses.

What Criteria Should I Consider Before Hiring a Skip and Fall Attorney?

With so much riding on a slip and fall accident claim, you cannot afford to hire a personal injury lawyer who fails to meet the criteria required to provide the best legal counsel.

Experience

At Morgan and Morgan, we do not measure experience just by the number of years we have provided superior legal services. We also consider experience to include specializing in the type of law that covers the issues surrounding a client’s case. For an incident of falling down stairs, you should only consider attorneys who have a proven record of success handling slip and fall accidents that involved falling down stairs.

Responsive Communicator

Recovering from the injuries sustained caused by falling down stairs can produce a considerable amount of stress and frustration. You do not want to compound the stress and frustration by working with an attorney who fails to respond promptly to emails, phone calls, and text messages. At Morgan and Morgan, our personal injury lawyers return all forms of communication within 24 hours.

Provide Legal Support Every Step of the Way

Many large law firms schedule free case evaluations in which a lead attorney shows up, but the same lawyer never gets involved again for the remainder of the legal process. Many personal injury attorneys delegate responsibilities such as showing up for court dates to less experienced lawyers. At Morgan and Morgan, the attorney you meet with for a free case evaluation is the same attorney who represents you during every step until your case gets resolved.

We encourage you to read the positive feedback left by our clients on sites like Yelp and Google. After learning more about our strong reputation, you should be ready to schedule a free case evaluation with one of the personal injury attorneys at Morgan and Morgan who specializes in handling cases involving slip and fall accidents.