Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog
Our Frederick County nursing home negligence lawyers have been following the recent announcement that a New York State jury has awarded over $5 million in monetary damages in a negligence case, after a patient at the Staten Island University Hospital and the Golden Gate Rehabilitation and Health Care Center reportedly developed severe and untreated bedsores that caused great suffering while staying at both facilities.
According to the lawsuit, Robert Messina. 63, was staying at the hospital and rehabilitation center after a brain dysfunction caused him to collapse in August of 2006. While a resident of both facilities, Messina reportedly developed pressure sores, or bedsores, that caused him to lose the ability to walk and led to a hip infection.
Messina claims in the lawsuit that the bedsores went untreated and developed into massive ulcers affecting his buttocks, genitals, mouth and ankles, leading to a spinal ulcer and a bone infection, or osteomyelitis.
In a related Baltimore nursing home injury lawyer blog, our attorneys discussed the danger of bedsores in nursing homes, and the importance of detecting and treating pressure ulcers early, to prevent the life-threatening infections that can stem from the advanced stages of bed sores like sepsis, a blood infection, and osteomyelitis, a bacterial infection of the bone.
Bedsores often develop with nursing home residents, or long term care residents who are immobile or have difficulty moving, as the blood flow is often restricted on areas of skin where there is prolonged pressure. The most common pressure sore areas are on bony places on the body like ankles, elbows, the spine, and the tailbone.
Messina claimed in the lawsuit that he lost the ability to walk due to a dislocated hip, and he cannot undergo hip replacement surgery until the infection caused by the bedsores is entirely healed.
The New York Supreme Court jury found that the hospital would be responsible for 75% of Messina’s injury, which would amount to about $4 million, and the rehabilitation center would be responsible for 25% of the injuries.
In Maryland or the Washington D.C. area, call our nursing home attorneys today for a free consultation, at 1-800-654-1949.
New York Hospital Bedsore Lawsuit Results in $5.4M Award, About Lawsuits.com, July 5, 2011
Related Web Resources:
National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC)
The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel
Related Blog Posts:
Nursing Home Sued in Two Different Wrongful Death Lawsuits, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, July 25, 2011
Nursing Home Sued Again for Wrongful Death and Negligence, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, July 1, 2011
Nursing Home Sued For Negligence after Patient Died from Pressure Sore Complication, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, May 4, 2011
Daughter Sues Nursing Home for Negligence After Mother Dies from Pressure Sores, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, March 10, 2011
Decubitus Ulcers and Nursing Home Negligence, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, February 14 2011
The Danger of Sepsis in Nursing Homes, Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog, September 27, 2010