Most people lose almost all their mobility after a serious hip fracture, so it is little wonder that 45 percent of nursing home hip fracture patients also develop bedsores. Nursing homes have a duty to follow industry standards when it comes to caring for patients, and a failure to follow such standards is clear evidence of negligence.
What are the legal elements of damage claims in these cases?
Bedsore Causes
Many hip fracture patients take very strong painkillers, so they sleep very deeply without turning over, and when awake, have little motivation to move around. In addition to the lack of mobility, a hip fracture often reduces the blood flow to the feet. That reduced circulation in the heel elevates the risk of developing a bedsore.
While all these things are going on, the nursing home staff is often so concerned with the fracture that they sometimes overlook telltale signs of early pressure ulcer development. As a result, stage one sores become almost incurable stage two or three sores without anyone noticing.
Legal Issues
As bad as they are, pressure ulcers are surprisingly easy to prevent. Most researchers agree that turning patients every two hours effectively prevents bedsores from ever occurring, or at least from progressing past stage one.
Many nursing homes are understaffed, so routine patient care is not as available as it should be, especially at night and during other non-peak periods when staff levels are even lower.
In court, a failure to follow industry standards is clear evidence of a lack of ordinary care. If the victim proves that the nursing home knew about the staffing shortage or otherwise knew that patients weren’t being turned in bed or weren’t receiving the proper amount of care, damages usually include compensation for medical expenses and other economic losses, as well as emotional distress and other noneconomic losses. Substantial punitive damages may be available as well.
Perhaps most significantly, negligence lawsuits draw attention to neglect issues at nursing homes, thus helping to prevent future victims.
