How do I claim compensation for slipping on a wet floor in hospital for my five year old daughter? She was recently staying overnight to get her tonsils out and she slipped and broke her arm because the nurse wasn’t paying attention.
To claim compensation for slipping on a wet floor in hospital for your daughter it is in your best interest to contact a personal injury claims lawyer with experience in dealing with hospital injury claims at the first possible moment. They will be able to give you specific advice based on the circumstances of your daughter’s injury and how severe it is. They will advise you on how best to proceed with your potential claim. If they consider it to be sufficiently strong they may offer you legal representation.
All hospitals owe a duty of care to those that attend them. This means providing a safe environment that is free from all potential hazards. While this covers issues of medical negligence, it also extends to the hospital surroundings as a whole. This duty is especially important when it comes to the well-being of patients who are already ill; nobody expects to leave hospital with more grievances than they came in with. If this nurse had the responsibility of looking after your daughter, the fact that your daughter sustained a wet floor slipping injury suggests a demonstration of negligence on their part.
In order to establish hospital negligence to help strengthen your claim for compensation for slipping on a wet floor in hospital there are a number of things you should have done following the incident. Your daughter’s health should have been a top priority; a medical professional should have treated her arm injury in a prompt manner after she slipped. This will provide a date of when her wet floor slipping injury occurred in her medical history.
An account of the incident should have been written in the “Accident Report Book”. If you were not there, try to find anyone who witnessed the accident and record their testimonials. Make sure to retain a copy of the report afterwards. If the hospital has any CCTV cameras you should also try to seek access to these as they could have recorded the incident providing further evidence for your hospital injury claim.
You, or another legal guardian without a conflict of interest, will have to speak on your daughter’s behalf as her “litigation friend” in order to pursue compensation for her injury. This is because minors are not permitted by law to advise a lawyer before they turn eighteen. It is also possible to wait until she turns eighteen to pursue a claim; the usual three year time limit imposed by the USA Statute of Limitations on potential claimants to make a claim does not begin until a child turns eighteen. However, it is still advisable to confirm that you have a claim that is worth pursuing, so contact a lawyer as soon as you can to discuss claiming compensation for slipping on a wet floor in hospital.