Your next steps can strongly affect what can be proven later. If you can, prioritize:
- Get medical care immediately and ask the ER/doctor to document symptoms, observed condition, and suspected mechanism of injury.
- Request the incident report and the resident’s fall risk assessment from the time period leading up to the fall.
- Ask what changed that shift (staffing levels, transfer assistance, medication adjustments, alarm status, mobility restrictions).
- Preserve evidence: if video may exist, ask the facility about retention and request preservation in writing.
- Write down details while they’re fresh: location on the unit, lighting, bathroom access, whether a walker/wheelchair was nearby, and who was present.
Michigan cases often turn on documentation timing. The sooner you begin gathering records and creating a clear timeline, the better positioned you are to protect the claim.


