Before you focus on settlement or legal strategy, focus on evidence that can disappear quickly.
Ask the facility (in writing, if possible) for:
- The incident report and any addenda
- The resident’s fall risk assessment and care plan in place at the time
- The shift notes and supervision/monitoring logs
- Names of staff who were present and who responded afterward
- Whether alarms, bed/chair alarms, or monitoring systems were used and if they were triggered
If you discover video may exist: request preservation immediately. In many facilities, retention windows can be short.
Write down your own timeline while it’s fresh—how the resident was doing before the fall, who was assisting, what the facility told you about the circumstances, and what changed afterward (mobility, cognition, pain, sleep, confusion).
In Texas, prompt action helps preserve evidence and keeps the case grounded in what was known before and after the incident—not just what’s claimed later.


