According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over 800,000 people end up in the hospital each year due to slip and fall accidents. If you are one of those people who has been injured in a slip and fall accident, it is important to understand what your rights are for getting compensated for your injuries. Not only could you receive compensation for the costs of your treatment, but your attorney may be able to help you obtain other indirect costs.

Determining Slip and Fall Compensation

A student at the University of Washington died due to a blood clot in her lung according to the examination performed by the King County Medical Examiner's Office. Hayley Smith, 19, was a sophomore at the university when the university's police department responded to a slip and fall accident outside the Electrical Engineering building. Smith suffered a severe head injury.

Although it was not confirmed that she fell due to ice on the sidewalk, signs the next day were posted that the sidewalk was closed. The police department for the university found the medical examiner's determination of a death to be consistent with reports from witnesses and their investigation.

A man from New Jersey is facing charges of insurance fraud and theft after he faked a slip and fall accident in an effort to collect insurance money. Authorities say that Alexander Goldinsky was caught on video faking his fall at a business in Woodbridge. He worked as an independent contractor and purposely threw ice on the floor, then placed himself on the ground and lay waiting until someone found him.

Goldinsky then filed an insurance claim for treatment that he received at the hospital as well as the ambulance service. He was arrested on January 15 for the fraudulent claims.

Imagine yourself outside shoveling the snow off of your driveway. You go to move something out of your way when you slip on the ice just under the snow's surface. As you fall, your instincts kick in and you reach out with your arms to break your fall. While this may seem like a good idea, you realize while you are sitting in the emergency room that there really is not a good way to break a fall on the ice. You have broken your wrist and now have to follow up with an orthopedist later in the week. You may be facing surgery just by shoveling some snow.

Sadly, this scenario is not uncommon. Chicago area hospitals are reporting that 90% or more of their patients in the emergency room lately have been there due to slip and fall accidents. One doctor reported treating 15 to 20 slip and fall patients in one shift. That figured out to more than two per hour, and more than he has seen in his 34 years of practice.

Most of us are not on the lookout for hazards or potential dangers when we go to the gym. We are there to exercise, and we do not consider the many accidents that can occur in an environment like a gym. There is heavy equipment that has the potential to seriously injure folks, showers contributing to slippery locker room floors, and overly hot saunas. The potential for injuries are high.

One gym patron, Mark Watson of Warrenville, Illinois, was injured at Lifetime Fitness when the motion-sensor lights in the locker room failed to turn on. In the darkness he could not see the water on the locker room floor, where he fell and hit his head against the wall. According to Watson's attorneys, he suffered multiple injuries to his back, neck, legs, and feet as well as a concussion.