Posted on Monday, November 11th, 2019 at 4:56 pm
Many slip and fall accidents do not cause serious or life-altering injuries. Accident victims heal fully within a few weeks or months of the fall. While the injuries can result in medical bills and lost income, the person can return to their normal daily activities and life after their recovery. However, some slip and fall accident victims sustain injuries that cause permanent disabilities from a slip and fall accident. For those victims, life is never the same.
Three Slip and Fall Injuries That Can Change Your Life
Broken Bones
Some broken bones heal without causing permanent impairments. However, some fractures cause significant damage to joints or bones. These fractures often require surgery to repair the damage. Even with intensive physical therapy, the victim may not recover fully. In some cases, a broken bone from a slip and fall can cause a permanent impairment that makes it difficult or impossible for the person to return to normal activities, including work.
Traumatic Brain Injury
A fall can cause a concussion or other brain injury if the person’s head strikes the floor or other object during the fall. In some cases, a person can sustain a brain injury even without striking their head if the falling motion causes the head to jerk severely backward and forward or from side-to-side. The brain “bounces” around within the skull striking the skull in numerous places causing damage to the brain.
Depending on the severity of the head injury, a fall victim can sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI).
TBI symptoms include:
- Loss of consciousness, but it is not necessary to lose consciousness to suffer a TBI
- Headaches
- Blurry vision
- Confusion
- Vomiting or nausea
- Dizziness
- Disorientation
- Ringing in the ears
- Memory problems
- Slurred speech
- Changes in sleep Patterson
- Changes in emotional behavior
The long-term consequences of a traumatic brain injury can be debilitating. Some potential long-term effects of a serious TBI include seizures, coma, minimally conscious state, chronic headaches, vertigo, blood vessel damage, paralysis, intellectual problems, communication problems, sensory problems, and emotional disorders. TBI can also increase a person’s risk of developing degenerative brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia.
The financial, physical, and emotional damages caused by a TBI from a slip and fall are typically substantial for the victim and the family.
Back Injuries and Neck Injuries
Back injuries are also common in slip and fall accidents. While some back injuries may heal completely, a victim can sustain a severe back injury that may involve injury to the spinal cord. With spinal cord injuries, a victim could be partially or completely paralyzed. Back injuries can also result in painful and debilitating damage to the vertebrae (bones in the spine) and the discs between the vertebrae (i.e. ruptured discs).
Neck injuries are also common in slip and fall accidents. The fall can result in damage to the neck muscles and tendons. Severe cases of neck injury or whiplash can result in impaired mobility and chronic pain that interferes with normal daily activities and work.
Contact a Sacramento Slip and Fall Attorney for Help
A slip and fall accident can result in permanent impairments. Regardless of the severity of your slip and fall injury, you might be entitled to significant compensation for your medical expenses, loss of income, permanent impairments, scarring, pain, and suffering.
If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident, contact The Tiemann Law Firm by calling (916) 999-9000. Our Sacramento slip and fall attorneys can explain more about personal injury claims and how you can recover compensation from a negligent property owner during a free consultation.
