Rolla Personal Injury Law Blog

When you think of someone being mistreated in a nursing home, your mind might turn to physical abuse. This is understandable, but there are other things that you also need to watch for. One thing that might signal that something is amiss in a nursing home is falling among the residents. Some might argue that the elderly population is unstable on their feet for the most part, but this isn't an excuse for falls in nursing homes.

One of the duties of a nursing home is to keep residents safe. An occasional fall by a resident might be understandable, but when falls are frequent occurrences, they can signal chronic neglect of the residents. When a person goes into a nursing home -- and periodically again throughout their time in the facility -- they must be evaluated for fall risks. If they are at a greater risk of falling than a normal adult, special precautions should be established for their care.

It's human nature to become distracted. We are juggling so many things at once that it's difficult to give the task at hand our full attention. However, this is an absolute must when driving a motor vehicle. Taking our attention off the road for even a second can result in a fatal accident that claims the lives of countless victims.

Fortunately, when we focus our attention in the right way, we can avoid the biggest risk factors for distracted driving. According to GEICO, here is what you can do to stay safe in this regard:

Sometimes an accidental death -- as tragic and difficult as it is to endure -- is nothing more than an accident and no one is at fault. Other times, someone acted in a wrongful, negligent or unlawful manner that caused the death. In these situations, surviving close family members can pursue a wrongful death claim in civil court against the at-fault party to seek compensation for their loss.

In order to prevail in a wrongful death action, the following for factors must be present:

• Someone died: The death might happen as a result of faulty medical care, a car accident, a sporting accident, a slip and fall or any number of ways.
• Someone was at-fault: The death was caused by another person or party that acted in a reckless, negligent or unlawful fashion. This might have been a criminal who attacked the deceased person during a robbery, a negligent person who caused a pedestrian or car crash or a reckless physician who committed medical malpractice.
• Close family members survived and suffered losses: The death of the individual was survived by close family members who can show that they have suffered losses as a result.
• A personal representative has been selected: A personal representative has been identified to manage the affairs of the decedent's estate.

The fibula is the smaller of your two lower leg bones, and it is positioned parallel to your shin bone, the tibia. The fibula carries approximately 17 percent of your body's weigh and helps to stabilize your ankle and leg muscles.

A fibula fracture resulting from a car accident is not uncommon. Whether you were a pedestrian or bicyclist who was struck by a vehicle, or a driver or passenger inside a crashing vehicle, an injury like this is relatively minor compared to the more serious injuries that can occur. Nevertheless, every fibula fracture is different in its level of severity and some may require surgical intervention.