Understanding the Cause of Pressure Sores: Oregon Nursing Home Malpractice Explained by our Bend/Portland Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers
A pressure sore is a painful condition of the skin and surrounding tissue which could become life-threatening if left untreated. Our Bend/Portland nursing home abuse lawyers know just how dangerous pressure sores can be. According to government statistics, approximately 2.5 million individuals each year suffer from pressure sores and 60,000 of those patients die due to direct complications from the pressure sore. In fact, the same statistics provide that pressure sores cause the United States up to $11.6 billion per year. These statistics also note that there are more than 17,000 lawsuit filed each year due to pressure sores which make it the second most common claim after a wrongful death, even more than slip and falls or emotional distress.
This is because pressure sores are suppose to be “never events” in hospitals and nursing homes. That is, with proper care and treatment, nursing homes and hospitals can ensure that residents do not sustain serious injuries due to pressure sores if they are rendering the proper level of treatment. This level of treatment ensures that residents do not sustain a pressure sore by making simple and slight adjustments, including just shifting a person after few hours, ensuring the resident is kept in good hygiene, and even making sure a person is well-hydrated. The failure to exercise proper care and treatment could result in a pressure sore due to Oregon nursing home malpractice.
What is a Pressure Sore?
A pressure sore is damage to the skin and surrounding tissue due to prolonged pressure, friction, rubbing, abrasion, or other contact with the skin. This prolonged pressure can begin to wear down the skin and the tissue behind it. The longer that this pressure is allowed to occur, the more likely that the skin and tissue behind it will begin to give away. There are four stages of pressure sores, each more devastating and likely to cause infection and even wrongful death. The stages progressively get worse as the damage to the skin gets worse. The final stage includes eating away at muscle, fat, and even down to the bone. Pressure sores are always medical emergencies, and the later the stage the more likely that it will be a life-threatening emergency.
Causes of Pressure Sores Due to Oregon Nursing Home Malpractice
There are many causes of pressure sores that could be due to the reckless, careless, and negligent conduct of nursing homes due to nursing home malpractice, abuse, or neglect. With the proper care and treatment, the risks of a pressure sore could be nearly completely eliminated. However, improper care and treatment or cutting corners to save money for the nursing home just contributes to the possibility of pressure sores in a nursing home.
The most common causes of pressure sores in nursing homes due to Oregon nursing home malpractice include the following:
- Sedentary residents that providers need to get up and moving, or rotate them in bed;
- Instead of lifting a resident up, dragging and pulling residents to the edge of the bed, when rotating, for changing, to the restroom, or other instances which cause friction and abrasion on the skin;
- Improper hygiene which allows bacteria to form and cause real damage if there is a tear in the skin or a smaller pressure sore;
- Poor diet to give residents strength and energy to fight off the effects of a pressure sore;
- Inadequate hydration to help fight pressure sores and conditions of the skin, which dehydration can contribute to skin damage faster;
- Not managing a resident’s other health conditions, such as diabetes;
- Moist skin from poor hygiene, sweating (temperature issues), or incontinence which is not quickly taken care of; and
- many other causes.
Ask our Bend/Portland Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers if Your Loved One Develops a Pressure Sore
Pressure sores are generally a sign of mistreatment. This is especially true if the pressure sore is large and a later stage, as not only causing the pressure sore is an issue but failing to timely identify, diagnose, and treat a pressure sore before it came a stage 4 is an important issue. If you or a loved one have been seriously injured or killed as a result of nursing home abuse or neglect contact the Oregon Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers at Kuhlman Law at our number below or fill out the intake form. We offer a free initial case evaluation and handle cases on a contingency fee which means that you pay no money unless we recover.
Our law firm handles cases throughout the state including Bend and Portland Oregon, Redmond, Central Oregon, Multnomah County, Deschutes County, Salem, Eugene, Corvallis, Lane County, Medford, Gresham, Albany, Medford, Beaverton, Umatilla, Pendleton, and Hillsboro.
We also have an office in Minneapolis, Minnesota and take Nursing Home Abuse cases throughout the Twin Cities, including St. Paul, Hennepin County, Ramsey County, Dakota County, Washington County, Anoka County, Scott County, Blaine, Stillwater, and Saint Paul Minnesota.
Please act quickly, there is a limited time (Statute of Limitations) in which you can bring a claim under the law.