Loved One Injured In A Nursing Home?

Bedrails are often standard on nursing home beds, which are essentially hospital beds that have been adapted for use in the nursing home.

Every year, there are thousands of elderly residents of nursing facilities that are injured because of an unsafe bedrail situation. Many die from suffocation because the bed rail has restricted their breathing.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the US FDA, bed rails can be dangerous. Even so, there are few rules and regulations available to keep elderly patients from suffering injuries due to bed rails in hospitals and nursing facilities.

Broken toes and feet, along with fractures of the hips and legs, put elderly patients at a greater risk of sustaining another fall in the future. A broken bone can also decrease the resident’s mobility and affect their overall quality of life, even after the fracture has healed.

In one instance, a resident living at a nursing home sustained a broken foot when a staff member closed a shower door on it. The nurse’s aide responsible for the incident was given a write-up as a warning and orders to become retrained.

Dehydration occurs when the nursing home resident lost more fluid than they took in. The body is always losing water through urine, stool, breathing, and sweat. If these fluids aren’t replaced, the body will eventually not contain enough water to perform vital bodily functions.

When the elderly nursing home resident becomes dehydrated, they’re more likely to have a certain symptoms and health complications from not having enough fluid. Some elderly people won’t have a strong thirst or display symptoms.

These people need to be encouraged to drink water and other fluids even if they are not thirsty. Chronic dehydration in the elderly person is a common problem of many elderly people in nursing homes across America.

Unfortunately falls in nursing homes are common and can easily cause a serious nursing home injury to occur. Even more alarming is that a study published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that only about 57% of nursing home falls are reported.

With such poor reporting standards, it is difficult to get accurate nursing home falls statistics. However, from what is known, falls in nursing homes are far too common.

Nursing home residents and their families expect that long-term care facilities will meet seniors’ needs. This includes making sure that residents get the medications they need.

A medication error in a nursing home refers to any mistakes that are made while making or administering the residents’ medications. While not every medication error may be serious, some can have deadly consequences for residents and may be a sign that nursing home neglect is happening.

If your loved one has diabetes and requires nursing home care, you’re not alone. Many elders with diabetes turn to nursing homes so they can get high-quality diabetic care.

While the management of diabetes can be hard, long-term care facilities have the ability and duty to care for diabetic residents.

An elderly person with diabetes can suffer from life-threatening health risks if they are not given proper care and treatment at a nursing home. Sadly, cases of diabetic residents suffering from nursing home neglect and abuse are all too common.

Get a free case review if your loved one suffered from improper diabetes care in nursing homes. Compensation may be available

A stage 4 bedsore is a deep wound reaching the muscles, ligaments, or bones. It is the most severe form of a bedsore (also called a bed sore, pressure sore, pressure ulcer, or decubitus ulcer.)

Bed sores stage 4 are the worst-case scenario: the blood supply has been so severely cut off that the wound tunnels down through all layers of the skin and exposes bone.

They often cause extreme pain, infection, and even death. Many patients must undergo invasive surgeries to survive stage 4 bedsores.

If your loved one developed a stage 4 bedsore while in a nursing home, taking legal action may allow you to get justice for their suffering.

Septicemia, or sepsis, is blood poisoning caused by bacteria. This life-threatening emergency occurs when a chain reaction in the body is triggered by an infection. Without immediate treatment, sepsis can lead to organ failure, tissue damage, and even death.

While most cases start as bacterial infections, sepsis can be caused by almost any type of common infection, including influenza.

If a resident suffered any type of harm while living at a long-term care facility, it may be possible to file a personal injury lawsuit.

This type of nursing home abuse lawsuit will outline how the resident suffered from abuse or neglect and why the facility is to blame.

Nursing home abuse lawyers can file a lawsuit on behalf of the resident or their loved ones, making the process less stressful.

If a resident passes away due to nursing home neglect or abuse, their loved ones may still be able to take legal action.

A wrongful death nursing home lawsuit can award families with compensation for their suffering, unpaid medical bills, and even funeral expenses.

Civil and criminal nursing home lawsuits are very different. A victim can only file a civil lawsuit, as criminal lawsuits are brought by attorneys acting on behalf of the U.S. government.

Criminal lawsuits involve felonies and misdemeanors, while civil lawsuits involve seeking compensation for harm done.