As Baltimore County nursing home injury attorneys, we have recently read about yet another nursing home negligence lawsuit filed in Illinois, where a health and rehabilitation center is being sued for failing to properly care for Betty Dressel, a resident suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, who reportedly developed pressure ulcers all over her body while residing at the home that her family claims led to her wrongful death.
Decubitus Ulcers, also known as pressure ulcers or bedsores often occur with elderly nursing home residents suffering from Dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease, who are resting in the same position for long periods of time without moving—causing areas on the body to lose circulation, which leads to skin breakdown, a problem that our lawyers recently stated in a Maryland nursing home injury blog, is entirely preventable.
Without proper nursing home staff attention, pressure sores often progress into the four stages of bedsore development, where small sores turn into deep painful craters as a result of skin breakdown, damaging joints and tendons and causing major infections which can lead to personal injury or even death.
The lawsuit claims that Betty Dressel was treated at Cedar Ridge Health Care and Rehab Center with substandard care, and as a result of her deteriorated mental condition, they restrained her to her bed, placing her at a high risk of physical deterioration. According to her daughter, this negligent treatment lead to the development of pressure sores that reportedly formed on Dressel’s back, legs, buttocks and feet that became infected, causing sepsis, a potentially fatal infection of the blood.
Dressel’s daughter, Beverly Dressel claims that while her mother was under the care of the home, her care providers committed multiple acts of negligence, including failing to detect and prevent pressure sores, failing to engage in the proper testing to diagnose Dressel’s pressure sores, failing to provide proper decubitus ulcer wound care and failure to notice significant changes in Dressel’s health condition as a result of the sores.
In Baltimore, Maryland, our nursing home neglect attorneys represent nursing home and assisted living residents who have suffered personal injuries and illnesses due to nursing home negligence. Contact our attorneys today.
Daughter sues Lebanon nursing home over mother’s death, The Madison St. Clair Record, February 2, 2011
Washington DC Nursing Home Neglect Can Cause Bedsores, Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog, January 31, 2011
Related Web Resources:
Bedsores (Pressure Sores) Prevention, Mayo Clinic
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
NCHS Data Brief: Pressure Ulcers Among Nursing Home Residents: United States 2004
Related Blog Posts:
Nursing Home Negligence Lawsuit Accuses Rehabilitation Center of Decubitus Ulcers, Wrongful Death, Maryland Nursing Home Blog, February 16, 2011
Nursing Home Negligence—The Four Stages of Pressure Sore Development, Maryland Nursing Home Blog, December 29, 2010