What To Know About Bedsores in Nursing Homes

About 11% of nursing home residents experience bedsores. Bedsores in nursing homes may be a sign of neglect, and a victim may have a legal claim for financial compensation.

If you or a loved one has experienced nursing home bedsores, we invite you to call Bobby Jones Law. Talk to an experienced Greenville nursing home abuse lawyer and get legal help now.

Bobby Jones Law explains what you need to know about bedsores in nursing homes.

Understanding Bedsores

Bedsores are a common injury and health concern for individuals with mobility limitations and health conditions. In addition to being painful, bedsores create a risk of infection and complications.

What are bedsores?

A bedsore is a localized place of damaged skin resulting from direct pressure. It occurs when the skin gets destroyed in a certain place on the body because of sustained pressure or friction. The skin may be ruptured or eroded.

How do bedsores develop?

Prolonged pressure on the skin can reduce blood flow, resulting in tissue death. Friction and shearing may hasten death. When the tissue dies, an open wound appears.

What are the risk factors for developing bedsores?

Not being independently mobile
Needing assistance to change positions
Sudden weight loss
Use of a wheelchair
Skin conditions, psoriasis, eczema
Cognitive impairment
Spinal cord injury
Diabetes
Kidney disease, incontinence
Peripheral artery disease (PAD)
Cancer
Poor nutrition, obesity
Heart failure
Advanced age
Smoking

Health conditions that impact circulation cause fluid imbalance or increase swelling and may make a person more susceptible to bedsores. In addition, medical conditions that damage the skin can cause bedsores to develop more quickly.

Signs of bedsores

Open wounds
Blisters
Pink or red areas on the skin
Skin that doesn’t turn white when touched
Swelling, oozing
Pain
Itching
Fever, chills
Smell

Where are bedsores most common?

Bedsores are most common on the:

Head, ears
Elbows, backs of arms
Heels and feet
Hip bones, tailbones
Shoulder blades
Spine
Knees

Note: Bedsores often develop on bony areas where there is less muscle and fat between the skin and the bone compared to other areas of the body.

Stages of bedsores

Bedsores are categorized into stages by severity.

Stage 1—The least serious, with red skin and tender to touch

Stage 2—Skin loss, complete or partial, possible oozing or pus

Stage 3—Destruction of skin, the wound may be deep, and body tissue may be exposed

Stage 4—Damage to internal tissue like muscles and bones, odor, severe damage

Bedsores should be addressed with urgency. While prevention is best, identifying bedsores early can prevent them from becoming more serious. Even if a bedsore is in a lower stage now, if not addressed, it can quickly become more serious.

Treatment for bedsores

Treatment depends on severity, complications, and patient risk factors. Treatment for bedsores in nursing homes may include:

Changing the patient’s care plan, more frequent medical attention
Increasing position changes
Repositioning using pillows and wedges, changing angles for sitting or lying down
Addressing underlying medical issues
Cleaning the wound, draining fluid, keeping it moist but not too wet
Debridement, surgery, skin grafts
Antibiotics to treat infection
Dressings
Changing bedding and clothing

Bedsores in Nursing Homes

Bedsores are a concern for nursing home residents. Sometimes, they are preventable, and addressing patient risk factors can decrease the likelihood of bedsores developing.

Are bedsores on a nursing home resident negligence?

Bedsores on a nursing home resident may be negligence. It depends on why the bedsores developed and whether they could have been prevented.

Whether bedsores for a nursing home resident are negligent is an individual determination. There might be two people who develop bedsores at the same time in a nursing home, and one situation may be negligence while the other is not.

The question is whether the victim received reasonable care.

Ways that bedsores in a nursing home may be negligence

Not addressing patient risk factors
Not repositioning the patient frequently
Inadequate training for how to position a patient
Infection risk in the nursing home, such as failing to change gloves between patients or other sanitation issues
Failing to address bedsores quickly, insufficient response
Not addressing complications like infection
Inadequate nutrition, hydration

Legal Action for Bedsores in a Nursing Home

When bedsores in nursing homes are the result of negligence, a victim may receive financial compensation.

The victim must show that negligence occurred, resulting in bedsores. They must initiate a claim. They may have representation from an attorney.

Factual issues in pursuing nursing home bedsore claims

Whether bedsores are the result of negligence is a factual question. One legal challenge in pursuing a claim is gathering the facts to explain what happened. Witnesses may be employees of the nursing home. The victims may be unable to advocate for themselves.

An attorney can assist you in building your case. They can request treatment records and logs of resident care and can effectively question witnesses. This case-building process can put you in a strong position to negotiate the settlement of your claim.