If you have an elderly parent or other older loved one in a New York nursing home, it is important to be able to recognize various signs and symptoms of nursing home abuse and neglect, including symptoms of passive neglect. While recognizing indications of physical abuse can be easier to spot—such as bruises, lacerations, restraint marks, burns, and other injuries—it is also essential to be able to identify signs of negligence.
To be clear, even if a nursing home or its staff members do not intend to cause harm to a resident, the facility can still be responsible for serious injuries and harm that result from negligent care. Bed sores are a common type of injury that result from nursing home negligence, and our New York nursing home negligence lawyers want to provide you with more information about filing a claim.
Learning More About Bed Sores in New York Nursing Homes
Bed sores are not the result of an act of violence in a nursing home, but rather a result of a lack of care. In some cases, lack of care in a nursing home can be intentional. For example, a staff member can intentionally avoid providing care for a specific resident, resulting in injuries arising out of neglect. In most circumstances, however, bed sores result from passive neglect due to understaffing at a facility and the inability for the employees to provide adequate care to all residents.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, bed sores occur “when a person is bedridden or otherwise immobile, unconscious, or unable to sense pain.” They typically occur on parts of the skin that are “under pressure from lying in bed, sitting in a wheelchair, or wearing a cast for a prolonged time.” To prevent bed sores, it is important for a person to receive assistance moving and avoiding having pressure on a particular area of the body. When a nursing home is understaffed, or staff members are otherwise overwhelmed, residents may not receive the type of care they need to avoid having bed sores develop.
Severity of Bed Sores in New York Nursing Homes
When can you file a nursing home claim for bed sores? Generally speaking, any time a resident of a nursing home develops bed sores due to negligent care, it may be possible to file a claim for compensation. Yet it is particularly important to speak with a nursing home abuse lawyer about filing a lawsuit for severe bed sores. As Johns Hopkins Medicine explains, bed sores are classified into stages based on their severity:
● Stage 1 bed sores, in which the area feels warm and may result in pain, burning, or itching, but will typically heal with limited treatment;
● Stage 2 bed sores, which usually result in an open sore or blister, cause serious pain, and may require more immediate medical attention;
● Stage 3 bed sores, where the pressure ulcer can look like a crater because damage has begun to occur below the surface of the skin, and at this stage immediate medical intervention is necessary and hospitalization may be required; and
● Stage 4 bed sores, which are the most severe bed sores where the muscles, tendons, joints, and even bones can be affected, and death can be a risk.
Contact a New York Nursing Home Negligence Attorney
If you need assistance filing a nursing home neglect claim for bed sores, our nursing home negligence attorneys in New York can assist you. Contact Leitner Varughese Warywoda PLLC today to learn more.
