At three in the morning, do not start measuring hinges.
If your mother has fallen, stay with her and handle the fall first. Use the first ten minutes after a fall as your order of work. Leave the door where it is until she is settled and the immediate questions have been handled.
Then look at the door before anyone resets the room. Is it open, partly open, or shut? Is the walker inside the bathroom or outside it? Is the door pressed against the walker, the toilet, or your mother? Could you reach her without moving her?
Those details tell you whether the door was part of the problem. They do not tell you, by themselves, which replacement is right.
Write down the doorway you actually found
Before you go back to bed, write down five things: where the door stopped, where your mother was, where her walking aid was, which hand she used on the handle, and whether another person could enter the bathroom.
Add her words without cleaning them up. “The walker would not turn with the door open” is more useful than “door problem.” “I pulled the door toward me and stepped backward” is more useful than “lost balance.”
If you are unsure whether the fall belongs in a larger pattern, use the reading path after the room is quiet.
Walk all six stops before calling a contractor
In daylight, walk the route with your mother at her usual pace. Use the same walking aid and the same side of the bed she uses at night. Do not coach her into a cleaner version of the trip.
Stop first at the bed edge. Watch whether she needs the bathroom door visible before she stands. A door that will usually be left open may change that sight line.
Stop second at standing. Check whether she turns toward the bathroom while still close to the bed. The door change will not help if the difficult turn happens here.
Stop third at the bedroom doorway. Look for the first place the walker needs to change direction. Mark that place with removable tape.
Stop fourth in the hall or open space before the bathroom. Ask her to approach the bathroom exactly as she does at night. Watch which side of the doorway she reaches first.
Stop fifth at the bathroom threshold. Have her operate the existing handle. Note whether she reaches, pulls, pushes, steps backward, moves the walker aside, or turns sideways. This is the stop that a different door swing may change.
Stop sixth at the toilet. Check where the door ends when she is in position to sit. Then check where it ends when she stands again. A change that helps her enter still has to let her leave.
Test the proposed swing with tape
Do not choose “in” or “out” from a photograph. Put painter’s tape on the floor to show the arc of the proposed door. Place a chair, box, or helper at the taped edge so the arc cannot be ignored during the test.
Walk the route again. At the threshold, check four clear questions: Can she reach the handle without leaning? Can she move the door without backing up? Can her walker remain in front of her? Can someone else approach if she is on the floor?
Then test the return trip. Start at the toilet and go back to bed. The new swing must work in both directions.
If the answer changes depending on whether she uses the walker, test with the walker. Do not approve the work based on the easier trip without it.
Ask what else the job changes
Show the contractor the full route, not only the hinges. Ask for the answer to each of these questions in writing.
Which direction will the finished door move? Where will the handle land when the door is open? Will the open door narrow the hall or block another doorway? Will the walker clear the threshold while the door moves? Will the light switch, towel bar, grab point, or cabinet become harder to reach? Will the frame, trim, threshold, flooring, or wall need repair?
Ask whether the existing door can be reused. If not, ask what will happen to it. Ask whether the handle will stay the same shape and height. Ask whether the door can be unlocked from outside if your mother needs help. Ask who will check whether local permission or inspection is required for the proposed work.
Do not accept “we will make it work” as the whole scope. Ask for a drawing that shows the swing, handle side, finished opening, nearby fixtures, and the direction your mother approaches.
Compare the whole interruption
Ask how long the bathroom doorway will be unusable, whether the toilet can still be reached during the work, and what must dry or set before the route can be used. Decide where your mother will toilet while the doorway is open or blocked.
Name the person who will move tools, cords, packaging, and the removed door before evening. Name the person who will put the walking aid and night-route items back in their tested places.
If the work cannot be completed and cleared before bedtime, do not leave the temporary route to chance. Set up the alternate plan while everyone is still awake.
Make the acceptance test part of the agreement
Before you commit, tell the contractor that final approval includes a route walk. The work is not finished when the door moves. It is finished when the doorway is clear, the hardware works, the floor is clean, and your mother can test the route without stepping around tools.
Walk from bed to toilet and back. Use the usual walker. Test the handle with the bathroom light set the way it is normally set at night. Open the door fully, partly, and from the toilet side.
Write down any adjustment before making the final acceptance: handle difficult to turn, door will not stay where expected, walker catches the trim, open door blocks the approach, or helper cannot enter.
Know when the door is not the decision
If the difficult moment occurs at the bed, during standing, in the hall, or while turning at the toilet, changing the door may leave the main problem untouched. Take your route notes to her physician and ask whether the repeated falls or changes in movement need clinical review.
If you need local contacts for non-emergency help, start with Local help after a fall, St. Louis.
The useful question is not whether an outward-opening door is better in general. It is whether this exact door, moving in this exact direction, gives your mother and the person coming to help her a clearer night route. Test that before you sign.