Bedsores, Pressure Sores, Decubitus Ulcers

Study Finds Link Between Feeding Tubes and Bedsores

May 22, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A new study suggests that previous beliefs regarding certain dementia patients’ use of feeding tubes are incorrect. Feeding tubes, the belief went, could rectify nutritional imbalances and therefore aid in the healing of pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores. Research has generally been inconclusive, but this new study appears to disprove the premise entirely.

Patients reviewed in the study who had bedsores when receiving the feeding tube showed no improvement, and patients who previously lacked bedsores before were more likely to develop them with the feeding tube. The study’s conclusions are important to nursing home residents, their families and loved ones, and those who advocate for their safety.

The study looked at hospital records for patients with advanced cognitive impairment, commonly known as dementia, who had a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube inserted, and were then returned to the nursing homes where they live. The purpose of the feeding tube is often to correct nutritional imbalances in the patients, who may suffer from eating disorders brought on by dementia. The study’s lead author has also said that nursing homes and hospitals, looking to cut expenses where possible, may view feeding tubes as a good investment, even if they are not strictly medically necessary. Using feeding tubes in residents suffering from dementia frees up staff members who might otherwise have had to feed those residents by hand.

The study’s findings indicate that not only does the use of feeding tubes not improve a patient’s recovery from bedsores, but that these devices may actually put patients more at risk for having bedsores. Nursing home residents who had no bedsores upon arriving at the hospital were 2.27 times more likely to get a bedsore after getting the feeding tube. Among residents who already had bedsores when they received their feeding tube, researchers found that the bedsores were less likely to heal.

Family of Man Who Died from Bedsores Receives $3.2 Million Jury Award

May 8, 2012 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A Colorado jury ruled for the family of a man who died due to complications from bedsores. The family of Henry Frazier sued the nursing home where the man lived, alleging that staff members’ neglect caused Frazier to develop the bed sores, and that the nursing home failed to notify the family of his condition. The jury awarded the family $3.2 million for Frazier’s wrongful death.

Frazier first entered Pioneer Healthcare Center in Rocky Ford, Colorado in May 2009. For a time, he reportedly worked as a janitor at the center, although he suffered from Parkinson’s Disease and had difficulties with mobility. His family, including his wife and adult children, visited him often, with his wife spending two to four hours a day with him. Despite this, the family was not made aware of the injury that would take Frazier’s life until it was too late.

The bedsores began to develop in September 2010, when he was no longer able to move about the facility. Frazier stopped eating or drinking. Confined to his bed, he became “unresponsive.” By early October, Frazier had reportedly developed severe bedsores on his buttocks and scrotum, according to a nurse’s aide who gave this information to Frazier’s son. The nurse’s aide said that he was concerned that he might lose his job for speaking out, but he was also afraid for Frazier’s life. The bedsores had become infected and gave off a foul odor.

Another Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit for Madison County Home

August 25, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A fourth nursing home abuse and negligence lawsuit has been filed this week against the owners of a Kentucky nursing home complex, after a resident allegedly suffered from inadequate care when her healthcare rights and safety were reportedly threatened.

According to a news development from the Richmond Register that our Maryland nursing home attorneys have been watching, Viola Fields was a resident of Kenwood Health and Rehabilitation Center from the end of October until the beginning of December in 2010. James Rutherford, Fields’ guardian, claimed that Fields, who is incapacitated and not of a sound mind, did not receive the minimum standard of healthcare that should have been available to her as a vulnerable nursing home resident. Rutherford claims that the home violated her nursing home rights as a long-term care resident.

The lawsuit accuses Kenwood of nursing home negligence for failing to provide Fields with timely and accurate nursing home healthcare and medication assessments, proper resident supervision, necessary medical intervention, and from failing to prevent accidental injury. Kenwood is also being accused of medical and corporate negligence.

Rutherford claims that the nursing home’s wrongful conduct caused the rapid deterioration of Fields’ health and physical condition, and led to the direct development untreated pressure ulcers, wound infections, sepsis, pneumonia, urinary tract infections and weight loss. The lawsuit accuses the home of acting with fraud, malice, gross negligence and reckless disregard for the health and safety of Fields and her rights as a nursing home resident. Rutherford claims that because of these injuries, Fields experienced physical impairment, and suffered embarrassment, along with incurring significant medical expenses.

Feds Help Families Choose the Right Nursing Home With Improved Website

August 19, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In an effort to help seniors and families better evaluate and choose the right nursing home, the federal government has recently improved the Nursing Home Compare website, according to a recent article in Forbes.

As our Maryland nursing home injury blog has previously discussed, the Nursing Home Compare website is a web service listing around 16,000 Medicaid and Medicare-certified nursing homes around the county on a Five-Star Quality rating system—that compares and contrasts the quality standards on both short-term and long-term care.

The newly improved Nursing Home Compare website will reportedly feature 21 new criteria that help to measure the quality of care each resident will receive at different nursing homes and facilities around the country. The government will now include valuable experience from nursing home patients in both short-term and long-term care facilities, making it available on the website. It will make any complaints about a nursing home available, such as nursing home negligence or abuse, providing the necessary information.

The Nursing Home Compare’s new criteria will replace a set of 17 criteria and will focus on the specific and crucial issues affecting nursing home residents today, like pressure sores, infections, nursing home falls, pain, and general health and well being. The new criteria will also discuss the different percentages of nursing home residents who have experienced physical restraint, claim to have experienced pain that is severe to moderate, and who have been given vaccine for pneumonia.

Detecting and Preventing the Four Stages of Bedsores

July 26, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent Anne Arundel County nursing home blog, our attorneys reported on the problem of pressure ulcers in nursing homes, and the importance of detecting and treating bedsores before they develop into serious infections that could be life threatening.

Bedsores, or decubitus ulcers, affect nearly one million people in the U.S. causing around 60,000 deaths due to complications from the advanced development of the ulcers, like osteomyelitis or sepsis.

As reported in a related Baltimore nursing home injury lawyer blog, pressure sores often form due to nursing home negligence, when immobile residents, or residents who have difficulty moving, are confined to their wheelchairs or beds, restricting the blood flow on certain areas of the body where there is prolonged pressure, causing a lack of circulation and skin breakdown.

Pressure sores often develop in four stages:

• Stage I: When the skin on an area of the body starts to break down, it becomes discolored and red. This is an important stage for healthcare practitioners to identify bedsores, especially with at-risk residents, as pressure sores can be prevented and reversed if caught in the early stages.
• Stage II: The discolored area of a developing bedsore turns into a blister or scrape that forms a sore, resulting from the skin’s breakdown. If the sore does not receive immediate treatment, the skin will continue to deteriorate.
• Stage III: If the pressure sore is not cared for properly, the skin will continue to break down, causing significant loss of the soft tissue beneath the skin’s surface, forming a crater.
• Stage IV: The crater beneath the skin’s surface deepens, in many cases as large as a grapefruit or fist, where the muscle and bone along with tendons and joints, become severely damaged. Residents who suffer from Stage IV pressure sores often experience severe pain and frequent depression, and the massive ulcers can lead to illnesses like sepsis or osteomyelitis that can lead to wrongful death.

Nursing Home Sued in Two Different Wrongful Death Lawsuits

July 25, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A Charleston nursing home has recently been sued in two separate wrongful death lawsuits, according to a news development that our Baltimore nursing home negligence attorneys have been watching, after two residents died at the home due to the home’s alleged negligence and abuse.

The Charleston Gazette reports that Teays Valley Center nursing home has been sued by the daughter of former resident Anoway Rose Smith, who according to the lawsuit, suffered from nursing home abuse and negligence that led to bedsores, weight loss due to dehydration and nursing home falls.

The lawsuit states that Smith resided at the nursing home four times between August 2009 and February 2010, during which time she sustained systemic nursing home abuse and neglect that led to her death on February 23, 2010.

In a second lawsuit filed against Teays Valley Center, the home is also being accused of causing the wrongful death of another resident. Shirley Osburn has filed the lawsuit, claiming that the her husband John Osburn died as a result of severe nursing home abuse and negligence while residing in the home.

Hospital to Pay $5.4M in Bedsore Injury Lawsuit

July 19, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Frederick County nursing home negligence lawyers have been following the recent announcement that a New York State jury has awarded over $5 million in monetary damages in a negligence case, after a patient at the Staten Island University Hospital and the Golden Gate Rehabilitation and Health Care Center reportedly developed severe and untreated bedsores that caused great suffering while staying at both facilities.

According to the lawsuit, Robert Messina. 63, was staying at the hospital and rehabilitation center after a brain dysfunction caused him to collapse in August of 2006. While a resident of both facilities, Messina reportedly developed pressure sores, or bedsores, that caused him to lose the ability to walk and led to a hip infection.

Messina claims in the lawsuit that the bedsores went untreated and developed into massive ulcers affecting his buttocks, genitals, mouth and ankles, leading to a spinal ulcer and a bone infection, or osteomyelitis.

In a related Baltimore nursing home injury lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed the danger of bedsores in nursing homes, and the importance of detecting and treating pressure ulcers early, to prevent the life-threatening infections that can stem from the advanced stages of bed sores like sepsis, a blood infection, and osteomyelitis, a bacterial infection of the bone.

Nursing Home Sued Again for Wrongful Death and Negligence

July 1, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent Maryland nursing home lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed a nursing home negligence lawsuit filed by the widow of a resident—who claims in the suit that while her husband was staying in the Madison Manor nursing home, his foot infection was not properly cared for, leading to the amputation of his leg, and wrongful death.

In a related report, the same Madison Manor nursing home has been sued again by the son of a former resident who says the home failed to properly care for his mother, leading to nursing home negligence and wrongful death.

In this second lawsuit, filed just a month after the home was sued for negligence, David Drury claims that the nursing home owners, operators and staff knew that the facility could not provide the minimum standard of healthcare that was promised to his mother, Lena McKinney, causing her to suffer an accelerated deterioration of health and physical condition that was far beyond what is caused by the normal process of aging.

Drury claims that while his mother was a resident of the home from December of 2008 to July of 2009, she experienced nursing home negligence that led to fluid imbalance and malnutrition, weight loss, poor hygiene, nursing home falls, and infections including urinary tract infections and sepsis that led to acute renal failure. As our Baltimore nursing home lawyer blog has reported in the past, sepsis is a serious blood infection in the body resulting in blood poisoning, and can be a lethal condition if it progresses rapidly, leading to organ failure.

Widow Files Lawsuit for Nursing Home Negligence and Wrongful Death

June 24, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Last month, the widow of a former resident at Madison Manor nursing home filed a nursing home negligence lawsuit against the Kentucky home, after she claims the nursing home neglected to care for her husband’s foot infection—which led to leg amputation and wrongful death.

According to a Richmond Register report, that our Baltimore nursing home attorneys have been watching develop, Donna Anderson claims that while her husband Robert was a patient at the Richmond Health and Rehabilitation facility/Madison Manor from April to May 2009, the home contributed to the deterioration of her husband’s physical health condition—that was far beyond the normal process of aging.

Anderson claims in the suit that her husband, Robert, suffered severe pain and suffering, disability, mental anguish, and disfigurement while he was a resident in the home, as well as loss of personal dignity, because of the negligent care in the nursing home.

The lawsuit also states that Anderson’s infection spread because the home did not take the necessary steps to provide proper care and hygiene, as well as taking necessary precautions to prevent malnutrition. As our Baltimore nursing home lawyer blog has reported in the past, key nutrition and a healthy diet that is rich in vitamins and minerals can be an important step to the prevention, healing and recovery of nursing home infection. Anderson also claimed that her husband’s care records were not properly maintained, and that his symptoms and pain were not properly monitored.

Florida Nursing Homes Investigated for Severe Abuse and Negligence

June 3, 2011 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

According to a shocking Miami Herald expose that our Hartford County, Maryland nursing home abuse attorneys have been following, nursing homes throughout Florida are being accused of horrific cases of elder abuse and neglect. The series of articles in the Herald highlight an alleged breakdown in the state’s nursing home enforcement system—leaving thousands of residents in conditions that are both dangerous and decrepit.

The Herald spent a year examining assisted living facilities and found that as the number of homes have increased to accommodate the state’s major elderly population increase, Florida has failed to protect the very people it was meant to safeguard. Although the number of new nursing homes has totaled 550 in the last five years, the state has reportedly dropped necessary home inspections by 33%, allowing homes with the worst abuse and neglect offenses to remain open.

Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration oversees 2,850 facilities, and has allegedly neglected to monitor nursing home operators for abuse or neglect, investigate nursing home reports citing dangerous practices, and shut down the homes with the worst offenders—many of which lack necessary staffing, disregard nursing home regulations and deprive their residents of the most basic needs, like food, water and safety.

The investigation found that nearly once every month, residents die from nursing home abuse and neglect. In one incident, a 75-year-old dementia resident, who was at high risk for nursing home wandering, walked away from the Pinellas County nursing home, and reportedly had his body torn apart by alligators. In another home, a 71-year-old resident with a mental illness was burned so severely from being left in a bathtub that was carelessly filled with scalding hot water, that he died from a result of the burns.

Many nursing homes, according to the article, are also regularly caught using restraints that are against the law, including ropes and powerful tranquilizers. In one assisted living home a 74-year-old woman was bound for over six hours, with restraints allegedly wrapped so painfully tight that the device her tore into her flesh, causing her death.