If you suffer injuries from a slip and fall at a hospital– whether it be due to a hazardous substance on the floor that was not cleaned or other negligence of an employee at the hospital – you could have a slip and fall claim against that hospital.
It’s Important To Understand Your Legal Status At The Hospital
One factor your attorney will look at in determining if you have a slip and fall claim is your legal status while you were at the hospital. This means whether you were an invitee, licensee, or trespasser at the hospital. If you are a trespasser than it will be very difficult to recover.
An invitee is a person invited onto someone’s property to engage in social activities, to do some type of job on the property, or as a customer at a business. Invitees are owed the highest level of care, and if you have a slip and fall case at a hospital, it is likely you are considered an invitee there.
A licensee is between a trespasser and invitee – where your presence on the property is tolerated although you were not specifically invited onto it. In this scenario the property owner is usually only at fault if you had no reason to know of the defect that caused your fall, and the property owner knew of the defect.
What are some examples of invitees at a hospital?
Patients, visiting family members, or independent contractors who are hired to do work at the hospital would all be considered invitees. If you are an employee at the hospital you are also an invitee. However if you have a slip and fall at the hospital as an employee there you normally just have a workers’ compensation claim, not a slip and fall claim.
Therefore, if you are visiting someone at the hospital, and you slip on a hazardous substance on the floor (for example water or other liquid) you could have a slip and fall claim. How is the hospital liable when slip on something on the floor? There are a few scenarios. One is if you can show an employee of the hospital spilled or dropped whatever it is that caused your fall on the floor and did not clean up or report what they spilled. This is direct negligence of a hospital employee.
However, even if a non-hospital employee spilled or dropped something on the floor that caused your fall, the hospital can still be liable if this hazardous substance causes you to slip and fall.
In this scenario the hospital would be liable for your injuries from the fall because hospital staff had notice or constructive notice of the hazardous substance on the floor. Notice means that you have proof hospital employees knew there was something on the floor that could cause a slip and fall accident but did not clean up the substance.
Constructive Notice & Defects in Hospital Slip and Fall Cases
Constructive notice means the hazardous substance was on the floor long enough that hospital employees should have been aware of it and cleaned it up. This can be proven by video evidence, witness accounts, and the hospital’s incident report about your fall. The condition of the substance on the floor that caused your fall can sometimes indicate how long it was on the floor. Evidence that a hospital employee recently checked the area you fell shortly before your fall, and likely missed the substance you fell on during that fall, can also help prove constructive notice.
You could also have a hospital slip and fall claim if there is a defect with the hospital property that causes your fall. As with a slippery substance, the hospital would be liable for your fall if it caused the defect that resulted in your fall, or if it knew or should have known of the defect and did nothing to fix the defect.
The hospital may attempt to claim it was not liable because the hazard was open and obvious, and therefore one you should have noticed it. Whether this is true is determined on a case by case basis. Even if you are found to be partially at fault for your fall, in many states such as Pennsylvania you can still recover as long as you are found to be less than 51% at fault. Here any verdict rewarded to you by the jury will be reduced by the percentage you are found to be at fault.
Beyond liability you will also need to prove damages in order to recover against the hospital. This includes medical treatment you needed, lost wages if your injury caused you to miss work, unpaid medical bills, etc. This can be proven through your medical records, medical experts testifying about your injuries, tax returns, and medical billing.
As we noted before, if you are an employee of the hospital and fell there you would have a workers’ compensation claim instead of a personal injury/slip and fall claim. The only way you would have a slip and fall claim as an employee of the hospital is if an independent contractor doing work at the hospital is at fault for your fall. You would then have a slip and fall claim against the independent contractor in addition to having a workers’ compensation claim.
The Thistle Law Firm is experienced at handling hospital slip and fall claims. If you or a family member were injured by a slip and fall accident at a hospital, the attorneys at the Thistle Law Firm are here to take your call at 215-568-6800