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{{hatnote|[[Life Alert]] redirects here.}}
{{Short description|American company providing personal emergency service assistance devices}}
{{use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc.
| logo = Life Alert Emergency Response - logo - 01.jpg
| logo_size = 250px
| type = Personal emergency response services
| foundation = {{start date and age|1987}}
| location = [[Encino, California]]
| founders = Isaac Shepher, Zohar Loshitzer, and Arik Amir
| industry =
| products =
| homepage = {{URL|http://www.lifealert.com}}
}}

'''Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc.''', known as Life Alert, is a nationwide<ref>{{cite news
|newspaper=[[BizJournals]].com (Phoenix)
|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2013/01/18/cypress-creek-tower-in-fort-lauderdale.html
|title=Fort Lauderdale building faces foreclosure after Wells Fargo Bolts
|author=Brian Bandell |date=January 8, 2013 |access-date=December 15, 2022}}</ref> American device service company, with headquarters in [[Encino, California]], US, which provides services that help elderly people contact emergency services. The company was founded in 1987. The company's system consists of a main unit and a [[medical alarm|small wireless help button]] that is worn by the user at all times. Former [[Surgeon General of the United States|Surgeon General]] [[C. Everett Koop]] appeared in commercials for Life Alert starting in 1992, stating that he used one.<ref>{{citation |url=https://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/a-call-for-help
|title=A Call for Help |date=December 22, 2008 |access-date=December 13, 2022}}</ref>{{better source|date=December 2022}} He remained a spokesman for the company until his death in 2013.

== Service ==
Life Alert's alarm monitor phone device offering includes an answering machine unit with a emergency call button, a call cancel button, an on off switch and a wall plug in, connected to a telephone line and a pendant-shaped device, typically worn on a necklace or a wristband. Pressing a button on the pendant contacts a Life Alert call center, and a Life Alert dispatcher then contacts [[9-1-1]]. The company requires service contract with a minimum term of three years.

== Lawsuits ==
In September 1991, nine [[district attorney]]s<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/13/business/company-news-suit-targets-life-alert.html
|title=Suit Targets Life Alert |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] (source: Associated Press)
|date=September 13, 1991 |access-date=December 14, 2022}}</ref><ref>The NYTimes-published story named 'Life Emergency Response Inc' "based in Chatsworth" as the vendor and "Life Alert system made by Life Emergency Response" as the product</ref> sued Life Alert for high pressure sales tactics and misleading consumers about how the Life Alert system sends calls to emergency service providers.<ref name= topay>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/565081995
|title=Life Alert to Pay $1.35 Million |newspaper=The Napa Valley Register |location=Napa, California |page=2}}</ref>

The lawsuit said that Life Alert had falsely claimed that its system had special access 911, that local emergency agencies react faster to Life Alert calls compared to other 911 calls, and that Life Alert customers receive preferential treatment from public emergency service providers.<ref name= topay /> District attorneys said that Life Alert's sales representatives had fabricated fictional stories about victims of crime in order to instill fear and anxiety in people.<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/311862274 |author=Bob Klose |date=February 1, 1992
|title=Court Prohibits Hard Sell of Service
|publisher=The Press Democrat |location=Santa Rosa, California |page=B1}}</ref> Life Alert's sales training manual encouraged sales representatives to say that people were in danger without the system and to "go for the emotional sale, not a logical sale."<ref>{{cite news |author=Reynolds Holding |date=September 13, 1991
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/168320554 |title=$2 Million California Lawsuit Claims Life Alert Pressures, Deceives Elderly
|newspaper=[[Arizona Daily Star]] |location=Tucson, Arizona |page=A11}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]]
|author=Amy Pyle |author2=Jack Cheevers |date=September 15, 1991
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/176440711
|title=Suit Accuses Alarm Firm of Pressuring Elderly}}</ref> Life Alert's sales representatives would initially quote an inflated price and then quoted a lower price in order to make the person think they were receiving a large discount.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/210866759
|title='Fallen and Can't Get Up' Firm Told to Change Pitch
|newspaper=The Times Herald (Gannett News Service) |location=Port Huron, Michigan}}</ref> Prosecutors said that Life Alert sold systems for $1,700 to $5,000 that could be rented from local hospitals for $25 per month, and that the systems did little more than relaying calls to 911 operators who then called for emergency service providers.<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/240882165
|title=Help! Life Alert Is Falling and May Not Get Up
|newspaper=[[The Sheboygan Press]] ([[Associated Press]]) |location=Sheboygan, Wisconsin |page=19}}</ref>

Aside from the grey-haired ''fallen'' lady, another situation illustrated in ads involved "a man suffers a heart attack, alone in his garden." The ads are not being restricted: it is the "deceptive sales pitches" that are the focus of a court injunction.<ref name=ManAloneGardenLAT1992>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]]
|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-02-01-me-911-story.html
|title=Judge Limits Sales Pitches by Life Alert : Business: Temporary order follows lawsuit claiming that firm uses deceptive practices in selling emergency response system to elderly.
|author=Amy Pyle |date=February 1, 1992 |access-date=December 18, 2022}}</ref> In response to the lawsuit, a representative said that Life Alert is a [[burglar alarm|burglar-alarm company]]<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]]
|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-31-me-14876-story.html
|title=Emergency Loans Set a Record in 1994 : Business: The state's lending agency speedily procured more than $21 million from local lenders for 282 businesses damaged in the Northridge earthquake.
|quote=Life Alert Emergency Response Co., now of Sherman Oaks, a home security company.
|author=Isaac Guzman |date=December 31, 1994 |access-date=December 19, 2022}}</ref> that offers an additional communication device.<ref>{{cite news
|author=Lynn Simross |date=November 6, 1991 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/175426107
|title=Safe at Home |newspaper=[[The Los Angeles Times]] |page=E7}}</ref> The company later claimed in court that, while there may have been some isolated incidents of exaggerations by salespeople, there was no evidence of a pattern of such practice by the company.<ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/236208116 |title=Life Alert Trial Gets Under Way |author=Argus Petaluma |newspaper=Courier (Associated Press)
|location=Petaluma, California |page=13A}}</ref>

* 1992: the [[Arizona Attorney General]] filed a lawsuit against Life Alert for [[fraud|consumer fraud]].<ref name=arizona>{{cite news
|author1=Brent Whitting |date=July 16, 1992 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/123293935 |title=Emergency-call Firm Settles Suit
|author2=Jeers Woods |newspaper=Arizona Republic |location=Phoenix, Arizona |page=B1}}</ref> Life Alert agreed to stop soliciting business in Arizona, although it can continue to provide service to existing customers in Arizona.<ref name=arizona />

* 1993: a court judgment required Life Alert to stop making the false claims, and it required Life Alert to pay $700,000 to a [[Crime Victims Fund|victim restitution fund]], $350,000 in [[civil penalty|civil penalties]], and $300,000 in [[court costs|prosecution costs]].<ref name=topay />

== Trademarks ==
The phrase "[[I've fallen and I can't get up]]" was originally used in 1987 television commercials and [[trademark]]ed in September 1992 by LifeCall, which went out of business in 1993.<ref name= trademark1>"[http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=74108242 'I've fallen and I can't get up!' trademark info]". ''United States Patent and Trademark Office''. Retrieved September 23, 2009.</ref> After LifeCall's trademark expired, a similar phrase, "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!", was registered by Life Alert, in October 2002.<ref>"[http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=76233401 'Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!' trademark info]". ''United States Patent and Trademark Office''. Retrieved September 23, 2009.</ref> The classic commercial featuring this slogan was ranked number one by ''[[USA Today]]'' in its 2007 list of the most memorable TV commercials from the past 25 years.<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/20201129114508/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/top25-ads.htm Ads we can't get out of our heads]". ''USA Today''. July 22, 2007. Retrieved September 23, 2009.</ref>

=== Slogan's history ===
{{anchor|I've fallen and I can't get up}}
"'''I've fallen, and I can't get up!'''" is a [[catchphrase]] of the late 1980s and early 1990s [[popular culture]] based upon a line from a [[United States]]-based [[television commercial]]. This line was spoken by actress [[Dorothy McHugh (actress)|Dorothy McHugh]]<ref>{{citation
|url=[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Women in Red/Missing articles by occupation/Actresses – US]]
|title=374, Dorothy McHugh, American actress (1907–1995), 1907-08-14, 1995-07-19}}</ref> in a television commercial for a [[medical alarm]] and protection company called LifeCall.<ref>{{cite news |date=July 23, 1995 |title=ACTRESS DIES; KNOWN FOR 'I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP' |work=[[The Morning Call]]
|url=https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1995-07-23-3053232-story.html}}</ref>

The motivation behind the systems is that subscribers, mostly [[senior citizen|seniors]] as well as [[disabled]] people, would receive a [[pendant]] which, when activated, would allow the user to speak into an audio receiving device and talk directly with a [[Dispatch (logistics)|dispatch]] service, without the need to reach a [[telephone]]. The service was designed to appeal particularly to seniors who lived alone and who might experience a [[medical emergency]], such as a [[Falling (accident)|fall]], which would leave them alert but immobile and unable to reach the telephone.

In 1989,<ref name="USPTO-78911769">{{cite web |url=http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4805:v9npe6.2.2
|title=I've fallen and I can't get up! |work=Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS)
|publisher=[[United States Patent and Trademark Office]] (USPTO) | access-date=December 16, 2018 |archive-date=December 16, 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216163632/http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4805:v9npe6.2.2
|url-status=dead}}</ref> LifeCall began running commercials that contained a scene wherein an elderly woman, identified by a dispatcher as "Mrs. Fletcher", uses the medical alert pendant after having fallen in the [[bathroom]]. After falling, Mrs. Fletcher speaks the phrase "I've fallen, and I can't get up!", after which the dispatcher informs her that he is sending help.

Edith Fore ''(née'' Edith Americus DeVirgilis; 1916–1997) portrayed Mrs. Fletcher.<ref name=webb19901219>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Phoenix New Times]]
|url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1990-12-19/news/catch-a-fallen-star
|title=CATCH A "FALLEN" STAR |first=Dewey |last=Webb |date=December 19, 1990
|access-date=December 16, 2018}}</ref><ref name="monitor">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,289115,00.html
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070706044012/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,289115,00.html
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=July 6, 2007
|title=Monitor |first=Anna |last=Holmes |date=August 15, 1997 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]] |access-date=December 16, 2018}}</ref> Although a stuntperson performed the fall itself, Fore said that she created the "I've fallen" line while discussing the accident with LifeCall.{{r|webb19901219}}

==== Legacy coverage ====
By 1990, the ''[[Phoenix New Times]]'' reported that "From coast to coast, from playground to barroom, an enfeebled whine rings out across the land. All together now: 'I've fallen . . . and I can't get up!'" The catchphrase appeared on t-shirts, [[novelty record]]s, and in standup comedy.{{r|webb19901219}} In 1992, a sample of the catchphrase was featured in parody artist [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s song "I Can't Watch This" (a parody of [[M.C. Hammer]]'s "[[U Can't Touch This]]"). The phrase was parodied in several television shows including ''[[The Golden Girls]]'', ''[[Family Matters]]'', ''[[Roseanne]]'', and ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.medicalalertadvice.com/articles/a-brief-history-behind-the-phrase-ive-fallen-and-i-cant-get-up/ |title=A Brief History behind the Phrase: "I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up!"|date=May 19, 2020 }}</ref> In 1993, [[Gary Larson]] drew a ''[[The Far Side|Far Side]]'' cartoon featuring the "I've fallen, and I can't get up" building. A sample of the phrase was also featured in a track used only in the Japanese Sega Saturn version of ''[[Fighting Vipers]]'' when the player is in the training stage.

==== Slogan trademark history ====
According to the [[United States Patent and Trademark Office]], after first applying in October 1990, LifeCall registered the phrase "I've fallen, and I can't get up" as a [[trademark]] in September 1992 until its status was cancelled in 1999 (LifeCall went out of business in 1993).<ref name="USPTO-status">{{cite web | url = http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=74108242 | title = US Serial, Registration, or Reference No. 74108242 |work=Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) System |publisher=United States Patent and Trademark Office |access-date=December 16, 2018}}</ref> In October 2002, the similar phrase "Help! I've fallen, and I can't get up!" became a registered trademark of [[Life Alert]] Emergency Response, Inc. The registration was cancelled in May 2013.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76233401&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch | title = U.S. Serial, Registration, or Reference No. 76233401
|work=Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) System
|publisher=United States Patent and Trademark Office |access-date=October 31, 2019 }}</ref> A new registration was granted in May 2014.<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=86078356&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch |title=U.S. Serial, Registration, or Reference No. 86078356
|work=Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) System
|publisher=United States Patent and Trademark Office |access-date=October 31, 2019 }}</ref> Life Alert had filed for the phrase "Help, I've fallen & can't get up!" in March 2001, but the application was abandoned in November 2001.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76233402&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch
|title=U.S. Serial, Registration, or Reference No. 76233402
|work=Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) System
|publisher=United States Patent and Trademark Office |access-date=October 31, 2019 }}</ref> In June 2007, the phrase "I've fallen, and I can't get up!" also became a registered trademark of Life Alert.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=78911769&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch
|title=U.S. Serial, Registration, or Reference No. 78911769
|work=Trademark Status & Document Retrieval (TSDR) System
|publisher=United States Patent and Trademark Office
|access-date=October 31, 2019 }}</ref> Both phrases are currently used on their website as well as in their commercials.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.lifealert.com |title=Saving a LIFE from potential catastrophe Every 11 Minutes!
|work=Life Alert |publisher=Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc.
|access-date=December 16, 2018}}</ref>

== Cultural references ==
* In the [[Waterworks (Better Call Saul)|12th episode]] of the [[Better Call Saul (season 6)|sixth season]] of the TV series ''[[Better Call Saul]]'', Marion uses a Life Alert pendant to report to the police life alert dispatcher Valerie that [[Saul Goodman]] (under the identity of Gene Takavic) is in her home.

== Founders and notable employees ==
* Founders (1987): Isaac Shepher, Zohar Loshitzer, and Arik Amir.<ref>{{citation |publisher=[[Dun & Bradstreet]]
|url=https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.life_alert_emergency_response_inc.d3b249d8442f1fe7bd1a58c0f6dc3e54.html
|title=Life Alert Emergency Response, Inc. Company Profile
|quote=Life Alert. Company Description: Key Principal: Isaac Shepher}}</ref>
* Notable employee (35 years): [[Mark Turenshine]] (1944–2016), American-Israeli basketball player<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles]]
|url=https://jewishjournal.com/judaism/obituaries/183051
|title=Mark Turenshine, NBA star, Life Alert general manager, 71 |date=March 2, 2016}}</ref>

== Viability ==
Even when an offer is not fraudulent,<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[AARP Magazine]]
|url=https://states.aarp.org/beware-of-free-life-alert-bracelet-scam-targeting-aarp-members
|quote=Watch out for a call offering a free Life Alert bracelet to AARP members. It's a phishing scam, and your best bet is to hang up!
|title=Beware of free Life Alert bracelet scam targeting AARP members}}</ref> another consideration is whether, even if the company supports it, their phone link to the center will still exist.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[AARP Magazine]]
|url=https://states.aarp.org/west-virginia/mobile-phone-companies-to-end-3g-service-in-2022-starting-feb-22
|title=Mobil Phone Companies To End 3G Service in 2022
|quote=Will your Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) – also commonly called a Medical-Alert, Life-Alert, or Fall Monitor – be affected?}}</ref>

''[[AARP]]'''s suggested cutoff regarding older devices and services is that if it's "from 2012 or before" it is "almost certainly on borrowed time."<ref>{{cite web |publisher=[[AARP]]
|url=https://states.aarp.org/pennsylvania/major-mobile-carriers-are-retiring-3g-services-in-2022-here-is-what-you-need-to-know
|title=Major Mobile Carriers are Retiring 3G Services in 2022
|date=January 20, 2022
|access-date=December 18, 2022}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Panic button]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.lifealert.com/}}
* [http://www.emergency.com/ Emergency by Life Alert]
* [http://www.la.bbb.org/Business-Report/Life-Alert-Emergency-Response-Inc-23351/ Life Alert], Better Business Bureau
* [http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/1087/ LifeCall commercial at RetroJunk]
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/opinion/wheelchair-falling-getting-up.html A wheelchair bound "I had fallen out of my wheelchair before" person's tale (NYT)]


[[Category:1980s television commercials]]
[[Category:1989 in the United States]]
[[Category:1989 neologisms]]
[[Category:1990s television commercials]]
[[Category:Advertising campaigns]]
[[Category:American advertising slogans]]
[[Category:American television commercials]]
[[Category:Catchphrases]]
[[Category:Companies based in Los Angeles County, California]]
[[Category:Distress signals]]
[[Category:Health care companies established in 1987]]
[[Category:Quotations from television]]

Life Alert Emergency Response - Revision history

imported>Patchesfaces at 01:58, 18 June 2025