Icy Weather Increases Slip and Fall Accidents

Icy weather is taking the country by storm and has lead to an increase in slip and fall injuries.

Hospitals in Springfield, Massachusetts saw as many as 30 patients in one day due to slip and fall accidents caused by icy conditions, according to ABC News.

“A lot of the patients we saw yesterday ended up having fractures from falls where they fractured their wrists or hips or their ankles,” said Dr. R.F. Conway, MD Director of Emergency Services at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula, Montana also reported an increase in the number of slip and fall patients in January, NB

Montana reported. Slip and fall patients typically account for 1.6 to 2.2 percent of patients, but during the month of January, the hospital experienced an increase of up to four percent of patients injured during slip and fall accidents.

Carol Benson, the senior director of critical care at St. Patrick believes that while there may be other reasons for the uptick in fall related injures, the icy sidewalks and streets contribute a great deal to the problem.

An increase in slip and fall-related trips to the emergency room are not uncommon during the winter months, but this is the largest increase hospitals have seen in the last couple of years, according to NBC Montana.