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5 Common Slip and Fall Injuries in Staten Island

12.9.2022 Brian O'Connor Category: Personal Injury

Understanding the Most Common Slip and Fall Injuries in Staten Island

One of the most common types of personal injury accidents is a slip and fall. Although many times a slip and fall will not result in any injuries, some slip and falls will result in catastrophic injuries. This includes many injuries which require surgery or may cause permanent disability or weakness. Unfortunately, fall injuries occur more often than most people may realize. According to statistics, each year there are over 1 million emergency department visits due to slip and falls (8 million due to falls in general). Of these falls, approximately one out of every five (20%) will result in a serious injury such as a head injury or fractured bone. Even though most fall injuries occur to young children or elderly individuals, many falls do occur to otherwise healthy individuals who normally have no issues walking. That is often because of the negligence of a defendant, which is why anyone with slip and fall injuries in Staten Island should contact a personal injury lawyer.

Here at the O’Connor Law Firm, we know how devastating that a fall can be. That’s why we offer dedicated and personalized service to victims and their families who have suffered damages from a fall in the New York City area, particularly right here in Staten Island. We offer FREE consultations and case evaluations and, if you hire our bodily injury law firm and if we accept your case, we will investigate your case, pay court filing fees, and handle other litigation expenses at no upfront cost to you. We only get reimbursed these expenses if we recover compensation for you in a settlement, verdict, or another type of award. The same is true of our legal fees, which are only paid from a percentage of what we recover for you. That means there is no upfront financial risk to begin working with our experienced slip and fall lawyer in Staten Island.

How Falls Happen and How They Cause Injuries 

Slip, trip and fall accidents are caused when a person loses his or her balance and falls to the ground. The different mechanism of a fall can result in different injuries. It can also result in different types of liability.

Slip and falls are generally caused by the loss of friction which results in a person sliding, shifting, or otherwise unexpectedly moving to the side. This causes a loss of balance, sending the person to the ground. Injuries with a slip and fall typically including torn muscles, knee injuries, hip injuries, and head injuries.

In contrast, a trip and fall is caused by a defect that causes a person to lose his or her balance. That defect could be debris on the ground, a hole in the ground, a pallet or box, or crack, or another object or defect that catches a person’s foot, ankle, or causes a person to lose balance. Injuries here can include broken bones, spiral fractures, back injuries, and head injuries.

5 Most Common Types of Slip and Fall Injuries in Staten Island

personal injuries to always hire a personal injury lawyer in staten island Slip and Fall Injuries in Staten Island There are many different types of slip and fall injuries in Staten Island. Some of the most common include the following:

  • Traumatic Brain Injuries – also known as a TBI, this type of head injury is caused by a bump, shock, or jolt to the head. In falls, it is often caused by a person who hits his or her head on the floor or another object while falling (i.e., on a piece of furniture). Not all TBIs can be seen on an imaging study, which means that victims typically need an experienced slip and fall lawyer in Staten Island to represent them.
  • Spinal Cord Injuries – also known as SCIs, a spinal cord injury is a type of injury which is caused by damage to the vertebral column and the spinal cord injury. Damage here can result in weakness, numbness, and even paralysis such as paraplegia or quadriplegia.
  • Broken bones – many slip and falls will result in broken bones. Although some broken bones will heal themselves, others may require painful surgery to install hardware. This hardware may need to later be removed in a second, also painful, surgery.
  • Shoulder injuries – these are very common in slip and falls because a person will often stick out his or her arm to brace a fall. That could cause a brachial plexus nerve injury in the shoulder and neck. That could also cause tendon, ligament, or other types of rotator cuff injuries in the shoulder which result surgery. Finally, a hard fall call could also cause a shoulder dislocation or separation which may result in catastrophic injury or damage that requires surgery.
  • Knee injuries – like the shoulder, knee injuries are also very suspectable in a fall. That could be due to the shifting and sliding nature of a slip and fall, which often tears or rips tendons or ligaments in the knee. Other times it could be the impact on the knee which results in a broken patella or another part of the knee.

Did You Suffer a Personal Injury in a Slip and Fall Accident in New York? Call Our Slip and Fall Injuries Lawyer in Staten Island for Help 

If you or a loved one suffered any type of slip and fall injuries in Staten Island, or in any other one of the five boroughs in New York City such as Brooklyn, Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens, Long Island, and in surrounding areas, should call the O’Connor Law Firm to schedule a FREE consultation. Our experienced slip and fall lawyer in Staten Island can help you recover compensation for pain and suffering, lost wages, medical bills, and other damages caused by a slip, trip, and fall accident on the property of another person, business, or government entity. To learn more, call (718) 948-3500 or using our “Contact Us” box available here.