Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog
In recent news that our nursing home injury attorneys in Baltimore, Maryland have been following, the wife of a nursing home resident who died last year after suffering from multiple nursing home falls as well as an infected pressure sore, has filed a lawsuit against the Illinois nursing home, seeking more than $50,000 in damages for nursing home negligence.
According to the lawsuit, Ralph Shafer was admitted to the nursing home in September of 2007, after suffering from two strokes, with signs of hypertension, dementia, and diabetes, among other health concerns. Shafer, who was 87 at the time, was reportedly at risk for nursing home falls, and according to Shafer’s wife, the nursing home facility failed to prevent his frequent falls. One tragic fall in 2008 led to a massive nursing home injury, where Shafer broke his hip and required surgery.
Shafer’s wife is also accusing the nursing home of failing to prevent the infection of a pressure sore on Shafer’s ankle, that reportedly developed as a result of his diabetes. Shafer died in April of 2009 from gangrene and osteomyelitis at the site of the wound, as well as complications from advanced dementia.
Osteomyelitis is a bacterial inflammation of the bones, that can develop when a Stage IV pressure sore causes severe damage to the skin, muscle and bone. As our Maryland nursing home injury lawyers discussed in a related blog, if a nursing home resident is bedridden, in a wheelchair, immobile with diabetes, has circulation issues or mental disabilities, and incontinence, the residents should be checked daily for pressure sores, and moved every two hours to relieve pressure and prevent skin breakdown that leads to pressure sores. The primary goal of pressure sore treatment is preventing them before they start.
If a Baltimore, Maryland nursing home resident becomes injured or dies because the nursing facility failed to prevent pressure sores or nursing home falls, the nursing home could be held liable for wrongful death or Maryland nursing home negligence. Contact our Baltimore attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers today so we can help you and your loved ones recover personal injury compensation from nursing home negligence and harm.
Suit Seeks Compensation for Death of Nursing Home Patient, My Journal Courier, December 14, 2010
National Institutes of Health, (NIH): Medline Plus: Pressure Ulcer Research
The AGS Foundation for Health and Aging: Pressure Sores
National Institutes of Health, (NIH): Medline Plus: Osteomyelitis
Related Web Resources:
NCHS Data Brief: Pressure Ulcers Among Nursing Home Residents: United States 2004