Maryland Bedsore Injury Attorney

Bedsores Can Be Evidence of Nursing Home Neglect

Can You Sue for Bedsores?

When frail, elderly, and vulnerable individuals are placed in a nursing home, we expect them to be cared for and kept safe from harm. When this does not happen, and your loved one suffers harmful injuries such as bedsores, it can be a sign of nursing home neglect that can lead to more serious injuries and even death.

Bedsores, also known as pressure ulcers or decubitus ulcers, are injuries to the skin and tissue underneath that result from prolonged pressure on the skin. There are many factors leading to this type of injury, including poor nutrition and hydration, poor skin and wound care. And the chances of such ulcers developing increase when the person is bedridden or restricted to a wheelchair, is unable to move themselves, and is not moved by others often enough to prevent this kind of injury.

If you suspect your loved one is suffering from neglect or abuse in a Maryland facility, it’s essential to move quickly to get it to stop before the resident is severely injured. If your loved one has already been injured or has died as a result, you may have grounds to receive compensation through insurance or a nursing home abuse lawsuit. A successful lawsuit can stop the neglect from continuing, provide financial compensation to victims and their families, and also deter a negligent nursing home and their staff from harming other individuals in the future.

However, nursing home neglect laws are complicated, and medical facilities and their insurers are out for profit and have a team of lawyers working for them. They will do everything possible to cover up problems and avoid paying compensation, so it’s difficult to deal with them without legal guidance. The nursing home abuse lawyers at the Law Offices of Roger S. Weinberg, LLC, are aware of their tactics and are fully prepared to combat them. When you contact us, we will immediately take steps to investigate the circumstances of the neglect or abuse, stop it from continuing, and get your loved one to a safe environment. We will explain all available options and determine the best way to fight for justice and the settlement you and your loved one deserve.

We offer a free consultation to discuss the circumstances of your case and determine the best way to proceed with helping your loved one. Don’t delay – your loved one’s health is at stake.

Can You Sue a Hospital for Bedsores?

Hospitals, as well as nursing homes, have a duty of care to provide appropriate care to ensure that their patients are kept safe from harm. However, medical institutions are out for profit, and may take shortcuts and cut staff whenever possible. Less staff results in less patient care and increased problems. If there is a lack of certified nurse assistants to reposition residents, it can lead to preventable bedsores and other neglect-related injuries such as falls or medication errors.

If you suspect your loved one is being abused or neglected in a hospital or nursing home, it’s important to take immediate action and contact a nursing abuse attorney who can evaluate the situation and file a nursing home lawsuit case if appropriate.

It can sometimes be difficult to determine whether injuries are truly caused by neglect. Our Weinberg nursing home abuse lawyers can analyze data and investigate what happened to your loved one to determine if understaffing or other neglect issues resulted in the harm.

When you retain us to help, our legal team will:

• Investigate the situation and determine whether your loved one is being abused or neglected, and who is at fault
• Ensure that your loved one gets proper medical treatment and is moved to a safe situation
• Interview witnesses and gather evidence from records of past complaints, resident medical and financial records, and photographs and surveillance videos
• Notify the proper authorities of the problems at the facility
• File a lawsuit and send notice of claim to defendants
• Handle all dealings and negotiations for a fair settlement with the hospital or nursing home owners, managers and insurance companies
• Build your case and take it to court if necessary.

Bedsore Attorneys Determine How Much a Bedsore Lawsuit is Worth

The amount of compensation possible in a bedsore lawsuit varies according to the circumstances of the case, the severity of the injuries, and how the patient is affected. Bedsores can lead to a range of undesirable consequences, including:

• Excessive medical bills for treatment of the bedsores
• Hospitalization for treatment of the wounds
• Physical pain and suffering
• Mental and emotional pain and suffering
• Serious infections that are difficult to treat
• Infections that lead to death.

The most important factor is the extent of the injuries caused by the bedsores. There are four stages of bedsores:

• Stage 1: Redness, sensitivity, and heat in the affected area, which may be tender, painful, firm, soft, warm or cool, but there is no skin loss.
• Stage 2: Skin loss affecting all the layers of the epidermis; there may be a fluid-filled or ruptured blister, and there is potential for serious infections.
• Stage 3: Complete destruction of the skin and necroses of the underlying tissue.
• Stage 4: Large-scale loss of muscle tissue and bone degeneration; the wound could expose muscle, bone or tendons; potential for nerve damage

Settlement amounts range widely depending on the stage of the bedsores and the damage to the patient. For example, in cases where bedsores are caused by neglect but the patient recovers relatively quickly, the settlement may be tens of thousands of dollars. For Stage 4 bedsores that result in considerable pain, suffering and permanent long-term harm or death, the settlement range may be hundreds of thousands to over a million dollars.

Other factors that affect settlement amounts are the age of the patient and the need for and cost of medical care and future rehabilitation. No matter what the situation, our Weinberg bedsore injury lawyers will fight for optimum compensation.

Bedsore Attorneys Look for Neglect

To win your case, our attorneys must be able to show that the home or medical facility had a duty of care to keep the resident safe; they breached this duty through neglect; the neglect caused the bedsores; and the resident suffered damages as a result.

Pressure ulcers can develop quickly but can often resolve with proper treatment if they are not neglected, so our investigation will start by finding how they were caused. There are three main causes for pressure ulcers.

• Sustained pressure: If the skin and the underlying tissues are located between a bone and a surface (like a wheelchair or a bed), the pressure on it can be greater than the pressure of the blood flowing in the tiny blood vessels (capillaries) delivering oxygen and other nutrients to the area. Because of a lack of these essential nutrients, skin cells and underlying tissues are damaged and may eventually die.
• Friction: The skin is dragged across a surface like a bed or wheelchair and injured. Fragile skin is more vulnerable to an injury than healthy skin.
• Shear: This happens when two surfaces move in the opposite direction. If a hospital bed is elevated at the head, the person in it can slide down. As the tailbone moves down, the skin over it may stay in place, pulling in the opposite direction. This can injure tissue and blood vessels, making the area more vulnerable to injury from sustained pressure.

Those at greater risk for pressure ulcers are usually dealing with a number of health issues, such as increased age; fragile, thinner, less elastic and drier skin; being unable to feel pain or discomfort or to express needs; poor nutrition and hydration; and bowel incontinence. Patients with pressure ulcers should be repositioned regularly and placed in correct positions; proper nutrition, hydration and vitamins should be maintained; and wounds need to be kept clean and free of damaged, dead or infected tissue in order to heal properly to prevent infections.

There are many things nursing home staff can do to prevent pressure ulcers. If they do develop, steps can and should be taken to promote healing and avoid serious injuries and complications.

Nursing home staff must take these steps:

• Make sure those with limited mobility are moved properly and continence care is provided promptly to prevent pressure ulcers from developing.
• Inspect the resident’s body on a daily basis to see if there are early signs of a pressure ulcer so it can be detected and proper actions can be taken to prevent it from worsening.
• Use proper medical care so the ulcer can heal and not become infected.

Failure to take the proper steps could lead to serious injuries and death, and the nursing home can be held liable.

Get Help From Our Bedsore Injury Lawyers

While many facilities do a respectable job of caring for residents, others do not — and it’s the vulnerable, disabled, elderly residents who suffer. If you need assistance with serious bedsore injuries or other legal issues concerning a loved one living in a Maryland nursing home, the MD nursing home negligence attorneys at the Law Offices of Roger S. Weinberg, LLC are here to help. Our founding attorney, Roger S. Weinberg, started the Maryland Trial Lawyer’s Association’s Nursing Home Litigation Section and has brought nursing home abuse and neglect cases on behalf of abused clients and their families for 30 years. We are very familiar with the laws that govern elder abuse, and we have successfully handled countless nursing home mistreatment cases. As pioneers in representing nursing home, assisted living and developmentally disabled victims, we offer a free consultation to evaluate your case.