While certain factors, among them icy sidewalks, cluttered store aisles and slick surfaces, have the capacity to make anyone fall down, Connecticut’s older residents face an elevated risk of falling and injuring themselves when such environmental factors exist. At Loughlin Fitzgerald, P.C., we recognize that when home and business owners are negligent, they endanger everyone, but today’s older Americans typically have other risk factors in play that make them even more likely to suffer a fall-related injury.
Per the National Council on Aging, today’s seniors are experiencing slip-and-fall accidents at alarming rates, and so much so that falls have become the single biggest cause of fatal injuries, nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions among this population. In addition to affecting you physically, falls also take an emotional toll on many older Americans, and in some cases, they make seniors less likely to move about and socialize.
Falls have become so common among America’s older residents, in fact, that one in four people 65 and older takes a tumble each year, and an American senior also dies every 19 minutes because of fall-related injuries. Just what is it about aging that makes older Americans more prone to falling and hurting themselves?
For starters, many older Americans decrease their level of physical activity as they grow older, which can cause make them increasingly inflexible and cause weakness in the muscles. Both factors can enhance an older person’s fall risk, as can the presence of certain age-related eye diseases. Certain prescription medications common among senior populations can also make you more likely to suffer a slip-and-fall accident, potentially making you less likely to spot environmental hazards that younger people may easily avoid. You can find more about premises liability on our webpage.
