My friend, who is up in age, spent 10 days in the hospital for a UTI. Although steps were taken by the hospital staff to prevent bedsores, he developed one at Stage 1.
Richy, thanks for your update below. I am glad you satisfied your own curiosity about the efficacy of a suit; it will bring you peace of mind to know there is no case here, and that these things sadly do happen. Hospitals and all care centers with an licensing take bedsores so seriously today. The beds alone represent 100s of 1,000 of dollars in cost. Bedsores are deadly and hospitals can have licensure withheld it they have unexplained pressure ulcers. Care is much improved in this respect; however, with time and debility they will happen, are BOUND to happen.
As others stated, no case here. Stage 1 is redness but no skin breakdown (visible). As long as they are making an effort to reposition and are now treating it the staff are taking appropriate action. Bedsores happen due to a combination of factors- while #1 is from not repositioning the body other important issues are nutritional status & generalized inflammation from illness which makes folks more susceptible to skin breakdown. Try to add more protein to the person’s diet as the body needs protein to build new tissue. Maybe get them to order an egg crate or alternating pressure mattress. Usually for stage one a barrier cream or a duoderm dressing prevents more breakdown. Good luck to you!
I agree with everyone. Besides skin being fragile, where bedsores usually happen, the lower back, there is no fatty tissue protecting the skin from the bone. Very hard to heal. As long as there is a Nurse who is experienced in Woundcare, it should heal. But diabetes also makes it hard to heal.
No one should ever take on caring for a bedsore on their own. Professionals know what to look for. With my Dad he went into rehab with pressure points on his heals. They became blistered and broke. My Mom informed staff and they were bandaged. When my daughter saw them, woundcare nurse, there was dead tissue that the nurse doing the bandaging didn't notice. He also was never given an air mattress and he was diabetic. My daughter went to the DON and ripped her one.
My mother never had a bed sore for twenty years and a ten day stay in the hospital she got one. I help the RN take care of my mom during the day but at night I sleep. One night the aids put her on her back and next day reddened coccyx and slight open area. I gave them instructions not to put her on her back, she is also on aspiration precautions. We are still treating her wound, very small but open area. She goes to the wound center and has an RN visit each week. She is slow at healing due to diabetes. I did not sue the hospital, just taking more precautions and I help the nurse at night now when she is in he hospital. Elders skin is fragile.
Unfortunately bedsores happen even with good care. The elderly have such tender skin.
Sometimes the elderly don’t even tell anyone that they have a sore because they are embarrassed about it. The sores aren’t always easily seen either if they are in a spot that isn’t visible.
My mom did this to me. I bathed her and didn’t even see the sore because it was so low on her body.
Mom didn’t even tell her doctor about it. She finally told me and by that time it took awhile to heal.
Fortunately mom had a nurse that had experience in treating wounds and it eventually healed.
It is better to focus on getting treatment for the wound rather than a lawsuit.
It may be hard to prove that your friend wasn’t receiving proper care.
Best wishes to your friend. I hope the wound heals nicely and that they are being proactive in preventing future wounds.
Ricky, what would be the basis for the cause of action? What injuries has he suffered? Are they permanent or temporary?
These are a few of the questions that would be addressed. In addition, as I've written here before, med mal attorneys when I worked in that field typically had all medical records reviewed by a physician practicing in a comparable area. If the reviewer felt malpractice existed, it was considered by the law firm. If the reviewer did not, the attorney advised the potential client there was no case.
Also at that time, the reviewing physician testified in court; that was probably the best evidence that malpractice occurred, when another practicing physician concluded it was.
It's difficult for all concerned when a less-than-desirable medical outcome was not able to be prevented. I was just talking to the spouse of someone who went in to have "routine" surgery (I think it was outpatient), and ended up in ICU on a vent in kidney failure. All reasonable steps had been taken to protect him, but something else was obviously in play here and he was in that small percent which have sudden complications. (He's much better now, by the way). Even with all the patient and family went through, I highly doubt if anything was done "wrong" by the doctor, hosp, etc. It's also my understanding that malpractice suits are incredibly stressful for all concerned (plaintiff or defendant) and both parties are scrutinized/criticized/marginalized/etc for the duration of the case - which can be years. Advice given to me over the years is that one should be pretty darned sure they've got a case before even considering a malpractice suit. I've been told both parties are put through the wringer and people (especially the plaintiffs) are not always prepared for that.
No. No lawyer will take such a suit. Law suits, sadly, must first depend upon how much money a lawyer can MAKE on the suit compared to time he must SPEND. Lawsuits are for the most part limited to recovery of 250,000 for personal injury. Sounds like a lot, but isn't. And that injury will be judged by A)How young you are B) how serious and permanent the loss is C) on whether you will need life long care and again, how young are you D) by whether or not best practices were done but injury occurred nevertheless due to factors (age, condition, nutrition, et al) E) Whether you losses due to injury will prevent you over time from earning what you were earning BEFORE the injury. And on and on. That is to say a young person who was willfully neglected and ended up paralyzed below the neck with two children to support and in need of life care? That person has a CHANCE of winning suit. People say this all the time. Ask anyone on this Forum "Have you ever won a medical malpractice suit OTHER THAN a class action suit". It is my feeling you won't find a single one? But you may be lucky and find one. Then ask about the suit. Class actions are for the most part a waste as well. The lawyer gets about 3,000 people with black lung, files, gets a potload in settlement and gets a percentage of that potload, and then the 3,000 divvy up the remainder and get about 217.00 for about 100 hours of paperwork and submitted medical histories. ALL OF THAT SAID The bedsore should be reported to JCAHO. If the institution has a lot of them occurring they can lose medicare and receive frequent visits to insure they are doing best practices. And all of THAT said, the important thing is to keep this from progressing. They are deadly. And even that won't count. If anyone doubts this, do make some calls to attorneys in your area to verify. And NEVER pay on your own. If they don't want it on contingency, then they are saying it isn't a winner in any way other than their making a few bucks.
Hospitals and all care centers with an licensing take bedsores so seriously today. The beds alone represent 100s of 1,000 of dollars in cost. Bedsores are deadly and hospitals can have licensure withheld it they have unexplained pressure ulcers. Care is much improved in this respect; however, with time and debility they will happen, are BOUND to happen.
Bedsores happen due to a combination of factors- while #1 is from not repositioning the body other important issues are nutritional status & generalized inflammation from illness which makes folks more susceptible to skin breakdown.
Try to add more protein to the person’s diet as the body needs protein to build new tissue.
Maybe get them to order an egg crate or alternating pressure mattress. Usually for stage one a barrier cream or a duoderm dressing prevents more breakdown.
Good luck to you!
No one should ever take on caring for a bedsore on their own. Professionals know what to look for. With my Dad he went into rehab with pressure points on his heals. They became blistered and broke. My Mom informed staff and they were bandaged. When my daughter saw them, woundcare nurse, there was dead tissue that the nurse doing the bandaging didn't notice. He also was never given an air mattress and he was diabetic. My daughter went to the DON and ripped her one.
Sometimes the elderly don’t even tell anyone that they have a sore because they are embarrassed about it. The sores aren’t always easily seen either if they are in a spot that isn’t visible.
My mom did this to me. I bathed her and didn’t even see the sore because it was so low on her body.
Mom didn’t even tell her doctor about it. She finally told me and by that time it took awhile to heal.
Fortunately mom had a nurse that had experience in treating wounds and it eventually healed.
It is better to focus on getting treatment for the wound rather than a lawsuit.
It may be hard to prove that your friend wasn’t receiving proper care.
Best wishes to your friend. I hope the wound heals nicely and that they are being proactive in preventing future wounds.
There's no case here.
These are a few of the questions that would be addressed. In addition, as I've written here before, med mal attorneys when I worked in that field typically had all medical records reviewed by a physician practicing in a comparable area. If the reviewer felt malpractice existed, it was considered by the law firm. If the reviewer did not, the attorney advised the potential client there was no case.
Also at that time, the reviewing physician testified in court; that was probably the best evidence that malpractice occurred, when another practicing physician concluded it was.
That is to say a young person who was willfully neglected and ended up paralyzed below the neck with two children to support and in need of life care? That person has a CHANCE of winning suit.
People say this all the time. Ask anyone on this Forum "Have you ever won a medical malpractice suit OTHER THAN a class action suit". It is my feeling you won't find a single one? But you may be lucky and find one. Then ask about the suit.
Class actions are for the most part a waste as well. The lawyer gets about 3,000 people with black lung, files, gets a potload in settlement and gets a percentage of that potload, and then the 3,000 divvy up the remainder and get about 217.00 for about 100 hours of paperwork and submitted medical histories.
ALL OF THAT SAID
The bedsore should be reported to JCAHO. If the institution has a lot of them occurring they can lose medicare and receive frequent visits to insure they are doing best practices.
And all of THAT said, the important thing is to keep this from progressing. They are deadly. And even that won't count.
If anyone doubts this, do make some calls to attorneys in your area to verify. And NEVER pay on your own. If they don't want it on contingency, then they are saying it isn't a winner in any way other than their making a few bucks.
Where is the tort in this case? If there is no tort, you have no case.