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One of the most important questions that needs answering after a fall in the elderly was whether it was a genuine trip and fall or a collapse. The trip and fall is a relatively benign condition and you simply need to deal with the consequences, but of course if someone collapses there may be important pathology to deal with. Has anyone come up with a satisfactory line of questioning to distinguish the two? I have thought that the presence of antegrade and impact amnesia would be a useful discriminator, but I recently saw an otherwise fit elderly man who is certain he tripped over a piece of scaffolding that stuck out but has no witnesses, and can't remember the incident. He can remember everything up to that moment as he was preparing his car for a journey, but can't remember falling or hitting the ground, just waking up on the ground. I strongly suspect he blacked out and collapsed. Is there any evidence out there? /Rowley./