Wrongful Death Lawsuit Blames Nursing Home for Untreated Pressure Sores

Pressure sores, also known as bedsores or decubitus ulcers, plague nearly one million Americans every year, and are a leading cause of nursing home injury, as our Maryland nursing home injury attorneys reported in a recent blog.

Pressure sores develop after an individual rests for too long in one position without moving, cutting off the blood supply to a resident’s skin, forming sores from the pressure on the skin that is unrelieved. Nursing homes residents who are elderly and immobile are highly vulnerable to pressure ulcers. Many advanced decubitus ulcer cases are often the result of nursing home abuse and neglect, and can end in wrongful death. Around sixty thousand people reportedly die each year from complications of some of the more advanced stages of bedsores.

In a recent wrongful death lawsuit, a hospital is being charged with allegedly failing to prevent, treat, and monitor the pressure sores of a patient, causing him to develop serious infections that allegedly lead to his wrongful death.

According to the suit, William B. McCuller became a resident of Memorial Hospital and Memorial Convalescent Center in April of last year, where he developed pressure ulcers that became infected. The hospital and center staff are being accused of negligence, for failing to properly treat McCuller, failing to monitor and care for his bedsores properly, failing to identify him as a high risk patient for bedsores, and failing to identify the early states of ulcer occurrence. The staff is also being accused of neglecting to treat McCuller with the proper wound prevention and treatment protocol, and to properly train their staff on the prevention protocol as well.

Winifred Love, the administrator of McCuller’s estate filed the suit, claiming that his family suffered grief and sorrow after being robbed of his companionship, instruction, counsel, love, support, guidance, and services. Love seeks a judgment of over $50,000.

Our nursing home neglect lawyers at Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers support the rights for Maryland and Washington D.C. residents to live in a nursing home environment that is filled with quality care and is fee from negligence that could result in injury or wrongful death from the development of pressure sores. Contact us today for a free consultation.

Pressure Sores Not Treated, Says Wrongful Death Suit Against Memorial and Nursing Home, Madison Record, July 29, 2010

Related Web Resources:

National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA)

The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel

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