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Yes. If your loved one has developed bedsores at a nursing home, assisted living facility, or even at a hospital, then you may have a potential claim for personal injury.
Bedsores are a very common occurrence in long term care facilities. Up to twenty-eight percent of nursing home residents will experience a bedsore of some degree. In fact, every year, almost 2.5 million cases of bedsores are treated each year.
But do not be mistaken. Just because bedsore injuries are common does not mean that they are unpreventable.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services place bedsores into two categories: Avoidable and Unavoidable. An avoidable bedsore is one that develops in a facility that did not (1) evaluate the resident’s risk factors for bedsore development, (2) implement appropriate interventions, or (3) monitor and evaluate those interventions. An unavoidable bedsore is one that develops despite the facility executing all three steps.
So, contrary to what you may hear or what you have been told, bedsores generally don’t “just happen by accident.” Preventative measures are known, documented, and easily implemented. In fact, CMS no longer reimburses hospitals for treatment of new pressure sores in Medicare patients.
If a nursing home has caused your loved one to develop a bedsore that should have been avoidable, then you likely have the basis of a personal injury lawsuit against that facility. Some studies suggest as many as 17,000 such suits are filed every year.
In a bedsore personal injury lawsuit, the defendants may be the nursing home itself, a head administrator, as well as other individual staff. The suit may also name wound care specialists or doctors. You may seek and be entitled to various types of damages. These include compensation for pain and suffering, as well as medical bills and out-of-pocket expenses. In Georgia, you may seek compensation for medical bills even where such expenses are paid entirely by Medicare or Medicaid.
Building a bedsore case and acquiring maximum value can be difficult. If your loved one has developed a skin wound, be vigilant. Take pictures. Ask questions of the staff. Request documentation and skin assessments. You want to begin as soon as possible gathering the evidence you will need to expose the nursing home’s negligence.
If your loved developed bedsores at a nursing home or assisted living facility, and you are wondering if you have a claim, then please, feel free to call and speak to one of our experienced Georgia nursing home neglect lawyers today. Our consultations are always free. If you would like more information about this topic, be sure to click on our other videos, or better yet, click the subscribe button to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thank you.
