BED SORES
A nursing home is generally a facility that provides shelter, food and care for the sick, elderly or infirm. Different terms are used in case law to describe a nursing home facility, such as: rest home, hold age home, convalescent home, special care facility, assisted living facility or retirement facility. Nursing homes are often thought of as facilities for the elderly, generally, an elder is someone 65 years of age or older. While it is true that a majority of residents in nursing homes are elderly, residents may be a person of any age who is dependent either mentally or physically for care. Although these care facilities provide health care by trained professionals, they are not hospitals and may have different requirements according to state and federal law.
Nursing homes owe a duty to their residents to provide them with the proper standard of care given their condition. When a nursing home fails to provide appropriate care, they can be held liable for the injuries suffered by the resident. Nursing home bed sores are often caused by failure of the facility to identify early signs of pressure sores and prevent the development of more serious decubitus ulcers.
In many cases, a nursing home bed sores could have been prevented with proper care or sufficient staffing. Experts agree that the risk of nursing home bed sores can be reduced with regular repositioning of residents. In addition, residents confined to a bed or wheelchair must be inspected consistently for early warning signs.
Bedsores can be life-threatening if they penetrate through the deep layers of skin and muscle or result in an infection. In severe cases, the infection can reach the bloodstream resulting in sepsis.
STAGES OF BEDSORES: SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
Early signs of bed sores will include red and irritated skin. Once identified, these residents need to be positioned to keep pressure from being placed on that area of the skin until the normal color returns. Failure to properly identify bed sores in a nursing home could result in the development of large open, bleeding and oozing wounds which could lead to a life-threatening infection.
Bedsores or pressure sores develop overtime and are usually placed into categories according to the severity of the damage. The bed sore stages can range from mild redness to destruction of the bone and muscle tissue.
- Stage I Bedsore: Surface of the skin is red and irritated
- Stage II Bedsore: Blisters or shallow craters form where the outer layer of skin dies
- Stage III Bedsore: Sores have entered the deeper layers of skin and often appear as a large open, bleeding and oozing wound
- Stage IV Bedsore: The most severe stage, where the sores have penetrated all layers of the skin, exposing muscle or bone
TREATMENT OF BEDSORES
Treatment of deep bed sores which have progressed through the inner layers of skin is difficult. Surgery is often not a treatment option given the diminished physical condition of the older nursing home resident. Therefore, prevention of bedsores through proper nursing home care is crucial.
Treatments for bed sores may include:
- rinsing with saline or another cleansing agent
- removal of dead materials surrounding the sore
- hyperbaric oxygen treatment
- surgical skin grafts
A common state or federal requirement is that nursing homes must provide a general standard of care based on what similar caregivers and facilities provide in the community. Facilities that do not meet this general standard of care may be liable for violation of state and federal negligence laws.
If you or a loved one has been harmed while a nursing home or assisted living resident in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee or Texas contact an attorney at Burke, Harvey & Frankowski, LLC for advice about protecting your legal rights.
