My husband and I were in a Home Goods store several years ago. The aisles were narrow and a mess, littered with all kinds of things. Moving pallets with dressers and chairs piled on. Any way, we were looking for a mirror and a slatted warehouse mirror mover about 15” high was under the mirror rack, blended with the floor color. My husband fell over it, injuring his shoulder, cut open his leg. Most of all he hit his head making a closed head injury. Of course, we went to ER and they kept him for almost six hours, doing multiple images etc. We were told internal head injuries could become serious hours after, could die and could not release him until it was all clear. Three days later he became confused, vomiting, significant head pain. He developed and battled a post concussive syndrome for well over a year.
Did the store pay medical costs? They would have had Premises liability coverage.
As a teenager they kept me in the hospital for three weeks after a concussion. I lost consciousness for only a minute or two. No fancy imaging then so it was just for observation and enforced quietude. Fortunately, little or no long-term medical consequences. But I’m going to be careful in the mirror department since I need a new bathroom mirror!
A family member of about 50 years died like that. His doctor had given him 2 new meds for his mild blood pressure issue. A diuretic that he complained made him pee too often, and a new bp Med that he said made him dizzy when he got up. One night he got up to pee and his wife heard him hit the floor really hard. Then silence. He had passed out. She called 911. At the hospital he appeared fine and was wondering how to get Uber to get them home. When one of the tests came back bad and they needed to do an mri right away. Only then did his speech start slurring and he no longer was able to act normally. He had a tremendous brain bleed that they said was inoperable. Yet over the next 3 days they operated on him 3 times. He didn’t make it. He had been taking an aspirin a day and they docs said that made the brain bleed hard to stop. He never got to see his kids graduate and marry etc.
Takeaway: if there is more chance you could injure your head in a fall than die of clogged arteries, do not take aspirin regularly.