Florida Injury Lawyers Blog

Our previous blogs on the subject have primarily focused on bedsores resulting from nursing home neglect. This blog will focus on other serious potentially life-threatening ailments resulting from nursing home negligence and abuse.

One systematic problem in Florida and throughout the country is failure to staff the nursing home facility with a sufficient number of employees willing and capable of dealing with problems of the aged. In a previous blog, we emphasized that the adoption of clearly-defined quality assurance measures could help address this problem, and one such measure involves the on-going training of employees.

Residents of nursing homes often arrive with specific physical ailments and often in the course of their stay, their ailments may worsen or other physical ailments may arise. We would emphasize that even the best nursing homes cannot be expected to totally prevent their residents from getting sick, acquiring new ailments, or undergoing worsening of their pre-existing ailments. After all, the nursing home population is comprised of individuals who, for the most part, are there because of poor health, either physical, mental, or a combination of the two.

Nevertheless, nursing home staff members should have the capability of at least identifying situations where follow-up medical intervention should be recommended and promptly rendered.

In a 2007 New Mexico case, a nursing home resident died of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Gastrointestinal hemorrhages usually do not occur out of the blue. They are preceded by worsening gastrointestinal problems. In the New Mexico case, the unfortunate victim’s estate successfully sued the facility on the following grounds:
1) Failure to properly assess her condition;
2) Failure to provide qualified employees to care for her.
Keith v. Manorcare, Inc., N.M. Bernadillo Co. Jud. Dist., No. CV2005-08066, June 2, 2007.

Continue reading " "Watchdog" Suggestions for Identifying Nursing Home Negligence & Abuse " »

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Posted In: Bedsores , Nursing Home Abuse , Nursing Home Negligence

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Attorneys involved in litigating nursing home neglect matters involving bedsores often encounter situations where more than one institution may be fault. For example, quite frequently the initial at-fault facility may be the hospital where the bedsore victim was a surgery patient. The surgery itself may have been executed perfectly. Yet, in the relatively short hospital stay after the surgery, the hospital’s staff may fail to use procedures which are well known to help reduce the possibility of bedsores in the recuperating patient. Perhaps the non-ambulatory patient had not been sufficiently turned, thereby increasing the risk of bedsores. Perhaps sufficient bed padding had not been provided to help “cushion” the patient’s body, particularly the buttocks area and feet where bedsores most often occur. Perhaps protective body lotions had not been used to provide a protective barrier between the patient’s body and bed sheets and thereby help reduce the possibility of bedsores.

In a previous blog, we distinguished the four stages of bedsores. Quite frequently bedsores arising from relatively short hospital stays due to inadequate nursing attention are highly treatable Stage I or Stage II bedsores. We would encourage the patient’s family members and friends to be on the lookout for possible bedsores. Suspected bedsores should be immediately reported to the nursing staff and the family members should follow up to ensure the proper wound care procedures have been initiated. Remember that the earlier a bedsore is caught, the more easily it can be treated. Once a bedsore progresses to a Stage 3 or Stage 4 bedsore, the prognosis becomes substantially worse.

If the patient is to be transferred from the hospital directly to his or her home or a family member’s home, the patient and/or the patient’s family members should carefully check the patient’s body for bedsores at the time of the patient’s release and take photographs if any suspect bedsores are found. If suspect bedsores are found, the patient should be seen by a doctor. The doctor will likely make a referral to a wound care specialist.

Continue reading " POTENTIAL DEFENDANTS IN A NURSING HOME NEGLIGENCE MATTER " »

Posted by Troy & Schwartz | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Bedsores , Nursing Home Negligence

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