If you are on someone else’s property, they have a duty to keep you reasonably safe from harm. If you’re in a grocery store, an office building, or someone’s home and they leave a wet floor unmarked and unattended, they’ve left a hazard that can lead to serious injury. When you slip and fall on that wet floor, you are suffering from their negligence. You are entitled to compensation for any harm that you suffer as a result. If you do fall on a wet floor on someone else’s property, there are important steps to take to preserve your health and your legal rights. Continue reading for tips on what to do after a slip and fall in New York, and call a knowledgeable New York slip and fall lawyer for help recovering compensation after an accident.
Check Yourself for Injuries
The first thing to do after slipping on a wet floor is to check yourself for injuries. People who slip and fall forward on wet floors commonly injure their wrists, elbows, and knees. If you did not manage to catch yourself, you might have injured your nose, jaw, or hip, and you may suffer from a concussion, a laceration, or severe bruises. If you slipped backward, you could suffer from a concussion, a contusion, a traumatic brain injury, or damage to your back, neck, tailbone or spine.
Depending upon how you fall and how hard you fall, any number of injuries are possible. Checking for injury immediately will help you assess how quickly you should seek medical attention, whether you should move at all or wait for emergency care, and if you do move, how to avoid aggravating any possible injuries.
Take Pictures of the Area
If you are able to do so, try to document the scene around your fall. Take pictures of the floor, the surrounding area, any signs or lighting, and any hazards that contributed to your fall. If there’s a spill, take a picture of the spill. If you are not able to do so, ask someone else nearby to take pictures of the spill.
Grocery stores and other businesses will often try to clean a spill as soon after a fall as possible in order to limit their liability. If you need to recover compensation and prove negligence down the line, it’s important to have proof that you slipped on a hazardous condition.
See a Doctor
If you are seriously injured, seek medical attention immediately. Call 911 or ask someone else to do so for you, and accept help from the paramedics. Take the ride in the ambulance if suggested; it’s worth it to protect your life and limbs.
If you are not critically hurt, it’s still important to seek a doctor as soon after your fall as possible. You could have latent injuries such as traumatic brain injury, internal bleeding, spinal cord damage, or organ damage, which may be hard for you to detect on your own. Symptoms can take hours or even days to arise, but a thorough medical exam can reveal these injuries. The sooner you obtain a diagnosis, the sooner you can start treatment, and the less likely you are to accidentally make your injuries worse.
Additionally, if you need to prove your injuries to an insurance provider or a court down the line, having a medical diagnosis shortly after a fall will work in your favor. If you wait too long, the insurance company or defense attorney might try to claim that you sustained your injuries in another incident after your fall. Do not give them that opportunity.
Document Your Injuries and Keep Track of Your Recovery, Other Evidence
Take pictures of your injuries right after your fall if you have any visible injuries. Keep copies of your medical records and other medical communications. Keep evidence of your treatments. If you are told to keep off your feet, take time off from work, avoid exercising or strenuous activities, and keep evidence of that medical advice and your compliance with that advice. The best practice is to keep copies of any documents generated in connection with your injury, including medical records, medical bills, communications with insurance companies, and communications with your employer about any missed or modified work.
Call a Knowledgeable Personal Injury Lawyer
If you fell on someone else’s property, whether it was an office building, a grocery store, or in someone else’s home, you might need to pursue legal action to collect the compensation you are owed. The owner or operator of the property is responsible for paying you back for your medical bills, for any income you lost while you were recovering, and for your pain and suffering. The earlier you consult with a seasoned New York personal injury lawyer, the better. They’ll help you preserve your claims, negotiate maximum payouts from insurance companies, and pursue your case in court should you not get the settlement offer you deserve. Injured accident victims who retain lawyers recover more compensation than those who don’t.
Seasoned Advice and Effective Representation After a Bronx Slip and Fall Accident
If you or someone you love has been hurt by someone else’s negligence in The Bronx, find out if you’re entitled to money damages for your injuries by contacting the passionate and accomplished New York slip and fall lawyers at the Bronx offices of the Kohn Law Firm for a free consultation at 718-409-1200.