The Dickson Firm, L.L.C. represents nursing home residents and their families in cases against the owners and the operators of nursing homes throughout the State of Ohio.
This article was written by Ohio nursing home attorney, Blake Dickson.
November 9, 2026
As we head into the holidays a lot of people will be visiting loved ones in nursing homes. There are many people who don't live close to their loved ones and so they only see them in person when they are in town. If you are visiting a loved one over the holidays, how do you know if they're receiving proper care?
One of the most common types of cases that we handle here at The Dickson Firm, as an Ohio nursing home law firm, is where a resident has suffered a fall or multiple falls.
If you are admitting your loved one to a nursing home and they are at risk for falls, you need to make sure that the nursing home has a plan to keep them from falling. If someone you love is already in a nursing home and they are at risk for falls, you need to make sure that the nursing home has a plan to keep them from falling.
How do I know if my loved one is at risk for falls?
One of the best indicators is, has your loved one suffered a prior fall? If they've suffered a prior fall they are absolutely at risk for falls.
Other things to consider:
Do they walk steadily?
Do they get easily confused?
Do they have any issues with mobility?
Do they walk with a cane or a walker?
Have you seen them lose their balance even if they haven't fallen?
Are they frail?
Are you concerned about their strength?
Do they take medication that causes them to get lightheaded or confused?
Do they have issues with blood pressure such that when they stand up sometimes they get lightheaded?
Do they have issues with blood sugar that causes them to get lightheaded?
All of these factors can increase your loved one's risk of falling.
How does the nursing home keep them from falling?
There are many options to keep a person safe in a nursing home. Nursing homes have a legal obligation to provide their residents in Ohio with a safe environment. All nursing homes in the entire country have a legal obligation to provide their residents with adequate supervision to prevent accidents. If your loved one is being admitted to a nursing home or your loved one is already in a nursing home and they are at risk for falls, you need to make sure that that nursing home has a plan to keep your loved one safe. They need to be able to express that plan to you. If your loved one suffers a fall they need to update that plan with additional interventions to keep your loved one safe.
What can a nursing home do to prevent falls?
The best way to prevent falls is with the use of alarms. There are alarms that involve a pressure pad that goes under a resident when they're sitting in a chair or lying in bed. If they start to get up and take the pressure off the pad, an alarm goes off. There are also alarms that have a string that clips to your loved one's clothing and then is attached to a magnet on the base of the alarm. If your loved one starts to get up and pulls the magnet off the base, the alarm goes off.
Many nursing homes will tell you that they don't use alarms because they are restraints. It is my opinion that this is completely false. The real reason they don't use alarms is that when someone suffers a fall (and the nursing home is using an alarm or was supposed to be using an alarm), it is easier for us to prove that the nursing home was at fault.
The explanation for why an alarm is a restraint is that supposedly it scares your loved one and prevents them from getting up. If a nursing home tells you that, you should ask them if they tried the alarm with your loved one. Did they set off an alarm in front of your loved one? Were they scared?
Different kinds of alarms to prevent falls
There are many different kinds of alarms. There are alarms where you can record your own voice and gently encourage your loved one to sit back down. Every time the alarm goes off they hear your voice, encouraging them to sit back down. There are alarms that light up over the door of your loved one's room, alerting the staff that they are trying to get up. There are also motion detectors that can be installed in your loved one's room, which alert the staff that the resident is up moving around. These are particularly helpful at night. There are alarms that sound at the nurses' station. There are alarms that set off a pager that nurses wear on their belt. There are lots of fall alarms and there are lots of ways that fall alarms can be effective without startling or alarming your resident in any way. The notion that alarms are restraints, in my opinion, is completely false and if a nursing home tells you that, you should strongly consider putting your loved one in a different nursing home.
Is the nursing home properly staffed?
One thing to check at the nursing home where your loved one is a resident is: Are they properly staffed? Are there enough people to provide adequate supervision to all the residents? You should visit your loved one at all different times of the day. You are allowed to visit your loved one in a nursing home whenever you choose. Go first thing in the morning. Go at lunchtime. Go in the evening. Go late at night. When you walk through the nursing home, do you see staff? Do you see nurses and aides? Sit in your loved one's room. Push the call light. See how long it takes them to respond. If your loved one has an alarm, set it off. See how long it takes the staff to respond to your loved one. If you don't see staff, that is a concern. If you shut off your loved one's call light or fall alarm and no one responds right away, that is a concern.
Alarms do not prevent residents from falling. Alarms alert the staff to the fact that your resident is trying to get up, after which the staff needs to respond. If there aren't enough staff to respond to your loved one, then then alarms are useless. Alarms simply alert the staff that your loved one is trying to get up.
Nursing home residents get up and walk unattended for a variety of reasons. If your loved one cannot be unattended, then they need to be supervised. Nursing home residents get up because they have to go to the bathroom. If your loved one gets up every night at 3 am to use the bathroom, all the nursing home has to do is put them on a toileting schedule and preemptively take them to the toilet every night at 2:30 am. Residents get up because they're in pain. The nursing home should figure out the source of that pain. Nursing home residents get up because they're bored. The nursing home should engage your resident in activities. There should be things for them to do throughout the day. Nursing home residents get up unattended because they're hungry. The nursing home needs to put them on a schedule to provide them with meals and snacks so they're not hungry.
Another thing for you to be concerned about is whether or not your loved one has unexplained injuries. They have bumps or bruises, and the nursing home can't tell you how they got them. That is a grave concern for whether or not they're being properly supervised.
If someone you love has been neglected or abused in a nursing home, please call us at 1-800-OHIO-LAWS. We would be happy to talk with you and help you in any way that we can.
