Hip Fracture Fall Claims

Hip Fracture Fall Claims

Hip fractures in elderly fall victims are catastrophic injuries with mortality implications, not orthopedic inconveniences.

The CDC reports that more than 95 percent of hip fractures are caused by falling, that 300,000 older adults are hospitalized for hip fractures in the United States every year, and that roughly 20 to 30 percent of patients die within one year of a hip fracture.^[1]

The injury triggers surgery, prolonged immobility, frequent transfer to skilled nursing or long-term care, post-operative complications including pulmonary embolism and pneumonia, and a substantial mortality risk.

When the fall happened on someone else's property, the property owner's liability is key to compensation recovery.

These cases can reach mid-to-high six figures and sometimes higher, particularly where the claimant did not survive or where the survivor lost independence.

A hip fracture in an elderly fall victim is not a typical broken bone. It is a life-altering and frequently life-ending injury with documented mortality implications.

When you are ready, discuss the details of your case with our client-trusted injury attorneys to review your legal options.

What Are the Types of Hip Fracture, and How Are They Treated?

A hip fracture can end a parent's independence overnight. One day they live alone; the next, they face surgery, months of rehab, and the real chance they never walk unaided again.

Hip fractures fall into three primary anatomical categories:

• Femoral neck fractures. The break occurs in the narrow region just below the ball of the hip joint. Treatment depends on age, displacement, and pre-existing arthritis. Hemiarthroplasty (replacement of the ball only) or total hip arthroplasty is common in elderly patients.
• Intertrochanteric fractures. The break occurs between the greater and lesser trochanters of the femur. Typically treated with ORIF using a sliding hip screw or intramedullary nail.
• Subtrochanteric fractures. Break occurs in the upper femoral shaft. Typically treated with intramedullary nail fixation.

The Mortality and Functional-Loss Reality

Hip fractures in elderly patients trigger a cascade of complications. Prolonged immobility produces deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. Aspiration risk increases with pain medication and reduced mobility. Hospital-acquired pneumonia is common. Pressure ulcers develop in patients confined to beds.

The post-discharge transfer to skilled nursing or rehabilitation extends exposure to those risks. As many as 20 to 30 percent of patients do not survive the year following a hip fracture, and many survivors never recover prior ambulation.^[2]

An intertrochanteric or femoral neck fracture that lands an elderly patient in long-term care is a catastrophic injury by any measure. If the fall happened in a nursing facility, the duty analysis shifts; if it happened in a store, hotel, or apartment common area, the property owner's notice of the hazard is the heart of the case, governed by the same comparative fault rules that apply to any premises claim. The deadline to file varies by state and can be as short as a year, so confirm the filing deadline for your claim before evidence and time run out.

What to Do After a Fall That Caused a Hip Fracture

With an older patient, the priority is the operating room, and the legal evidence often falls to family. If you are the adult child or spouse, you may be the one preserving the proof while your parent is in surgery and rehab.

• Get the patient to the hospital and stay with the treatment. Hip fractures need surgical fixation fast, and the records from admission through rehab are the backbone of the case. Keep the patient on every follow-up, because the continuous record ties the fracture to the fall and tracks the loss of independence that drives the value.
• Have a family member document the scene. An elderly parent in pain cannot photograph anything. A relative should return to the location, or send someone, to capture the wet floor, the loose rug, the dim stairwell, or the missing handrail before the property fixes it.
• Get the incident report from the facility or business. Whether the fall happened in a store, a hotel lobby, or an apartment common area, ask staff for the report and the report number that day. If the fall was inside a care facility, request the internal incident documentation too.
• Save the imaging and the surgical records. The X-rays and CT showing a femoral neck or intertrochanteric break, the operative note for the ORIF or hip replacement, and the discharge to skilled nursing all prove how serious the injury was.
• Collect witness contacts right away. Other patrons, visitors, or staff who saw the fall or knew about the hazard can establish how long it was there. Get their names and numbers before they are gone.
• Do not let the insurer record your parent. An adjuster may push for a recorded statement while your parent is medicated and frightened. Decline it. Confused or pained answers get twisted into a fault argument later.

How We Prove the Property Caused the Hip Fracture

Recovery rests on four elements. The owner owed your parent a duty to keep the premises reasonably safe. A hazard breached that duty. The owner knew or should have known the hazard was there, the notice question. And the hazard caused the fall, the fracture, and everything that came after.

To establish liability, we obtain the surveillance showing the hazard and how long it stayed in place, the cleaning and inspection logs for the area, and any record of earlier falls at the same location. The notice element often comes down to constructive notice, whether the danger existed long enough that a careful owner should have caught it. Where the fall happened in a care setting, the facility's own fall-risk assessments and supervision records come into play.

Proving the medical side matters as much in these cases, because hip fractures in the elderly carry mortality and permanent-care consequences. Treating orthopedic surgeons and geriatricians connect the break to the fall, and life-care planners and economists quantify the skilled nursing, the home care, the assistive devices, and the lost independence over the patient's remaining years. In fatal cases, those experts also support the survival and wrongful death figures.

Economic Damages in Hip Fracture Fall Cases

• Emergency department, hospital admission, surgical fixation, and post-operative ICU
• Inpatient rehabilitation and post-acute care
• Skilled nursing facility care, often extended or permanent
• Home modifications and assistive devices (walker, wheelchair, hospital bed, ramps)
• Future medical care including hardware revision, secondary hip arthroplasty, ongoing pain management
• Lost wages and lost earning capacity (for working-age victims)
• Funeral and burial expenses in fatal cases

What Compensation Can You Recover in a Hip Fracture Fall Case?

A surgical hip fracture sits at the high end of the value range. To see how it compares to other fall injuries, including a less severe broken bone from a fall, review our breakdown of slip and fall settlement amounts.

• Pain and suffering. Often the largest compensation category given the severity of the injury and the extended recovery.
• Loss of enjoyment of life. Particularly potent where the claimant never returned to prior independence.
• Disfigurement. Surgical scarring, contractures, visible deformity.
• Mental anguish. Anxiety, depression, fear of falling.
• Loss of consortium. Spouse and (in some states) adult children.
• Survival action damages. The claimant's pre-death pain and suffering in fatal cases.
• Wrongful death damages. The family's loss under the state's wrongful death statute.
• Punitive damages. Where the property had documented prior incidents at the same hazard.