Former Sen. Joseph Lieberman died Wednesday due to complications from a fall. He was 82.

Joseph Lieberman, the former U.S. senator from Connecticut and Al Gore’s running mate in the 2000 presidential campaign, passed away Wednesday at age 82 from complications after a fall.

Learning that Lieberman had died after a fall wasn’t all that surprising. Every year 1 in 4 people older than 65 in this country suffer a fall, making it the leading cause of injury for this demographic.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

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I’m an urgent care physician in Palo Alto, and it’s rare to go a day without seeing an older patient for a fall-related injury. Last week, for example, I saw a patient in his 80s who had tripped while getting out of a car and had hit his head on concrete. He was in my clinic with his worried wife. With a cut on his forehead, he uttered, “I am just so mad at myself.”

For older people like my patient, anything and everything can be a tripping hazard. My patients have tripped over benches, garden hoses, rugs and doorsteps. But for the most frail, falls can happen by simply turning too quickly.

My patient was thankfully OK. His exam and CT scan did not reveal any fractures or brain bleeding.

Yet, many others are not as lucky; 1........

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