Understanding Bedsores & Nursing Home Abuse
When you talk about nursing home abuse, a topic that comes up fairly often is bedsores. Bedsores or pressure sores happen when elderly individuals are neglected and not given the opportunity to care for themselves correctly. They occur specifically more often in cases where bedridden individuals are not properly turned over in their beds to prevent long-term contact injuries.
Bedsores are a sign of nursing home negligence and can cause serious health problems, including pain and infection. If your loved one has suffered this horrible condition while at a nursing home or assisted living facility, we encourage you to get in touch with Steve Watrel to discuss your legal options.
Types & Stages of Bedsores
Although bedsores can be caused by friction or by a process called shearing, the vast majority of bedsores happen when an individual stays in contact with a surface for an excessive period of time. Hospital patients and nursing home residents are at highest risk for these bedsores to develop.
Bedsores get worse if left untreated. They can be evaluated in the following stages:
- Stage I Bedsore: A mark appears on the skin and is warm or cool to the touch. The mark might appear red on lighter-skinned individuals and purple or blue for darker-skinned persons. At this stage, the sore might be painful or itchy.
- Stage II Bedsore: The sore becomes a shallow open wound or blister, either pink or red in color.
- Stage III Bedsore: The bedsore becomes deep after greater skin loss, revealing dead skin that might be yellow in color.
- Stage IV Bedsore: This most severe case of bedsores looks like a deep crater and can cause damage to muscle and tendon. The patient becomes at risk of developing life-threatening infection.
Bedsores are prevented merely by the process of turning. Nursing and clinical staff should come in and turn each patient on a regular basis, to preserve circulation and make sure that the pressure does not aggravate the skin and cause this dangerous condition.
Are Bedsores Harmful?
Bedsores can become a dangerous condition for residents. When bedsores do occur, they can quickly get worse. They can become infected and even lead to a deadly condition called sepsis. In these types of cases, time is of the essence, and immediate treatment is needed to save the individual’s life.
It should never come to that. Qualified nursing homes understand the importance of turning individuals and examining them to prevent bedsores from occurring. This is just one of the issues that family members often are dealing with when they come to a nursing home abuse lawyer to try to understand their case better.
Dedicated Legal Help For Your Family
If your loved one has suffered from bedsores while at a nursing home facility, contact Dr. Steve Watrel about your potential nursing home abuse case. Steve Watrel is a trusted local nursing home abuse and neglect attorney who understands what families are up against when they want to report a problem with a family member who is a resident of a nursing home facility.
Let us help out in assessing the situation and pursuing justice. Contact us online today or give us a call at (904) 723-0030.
