Peoria Nursing Home Bedsores Lawyer

Protecting Your Loved Ones Who Have Suffered Bedsores Due to Negligence

Bedsores, which are also known as pressure ulcers, are an all-too-common nursing home injury that can cause severe pain and suffering for residents. Bedsores can occur when a person is confined to a bed or sitting in the same position for long periods of time without proper care and support. The pressure placed on the parts of the body that are in contact with a bed or another surface cause damage to the skin and underlying tissues, leading to dangerous infections and other health issues. If you have a loved one who has suffered from bedsores while residing in a nursing home, you will want to determine whether these injuries occurred due to negligence on the part of a nursing home’s staff.

At Nursing Home Injury Center, we can help you address issues related to bedsores or other injuries that have affected a loved one while they were residing in a nursing home. We will work to ensure that you can achieve justice for your family member and hold a negligent nursing home accountable for failing to provide the necessary care and protect their health and well-being. We understand the difficulties that families often face in these situations, and we are dedicated to helping them provide for a loved one’s needs while preventing these types of issues in the future.

Causes of Nursing Home Bedsores

Bedsores can be caused by nursing home staff not taking the proper steps to ensure that residents are comfortable and properly cared for. In situations where patients have health issues that prevent them from moving without assistance, they may remain in one position for extended periods of time. If staff members do not make an effort to change a patient’s position often enough, or if adequate support cushions or other measures are not provided to improve comfort for a patient who is confined to a bed or chair, bedsores can occur. These injuries may take place because of understaffing at a nursing home that affects staff members’ ability to ensure that patients’ needs are being met, or staff members may not have the proper training to recognize symptoms of bedsores and take steps to prevent patients from suffering harm.

When nursing home residents are immobilized or do not move regularly, bedsores may develop on the parts of their bodies that come into contact with a bed or other surfaces. Constant pressure on these body parts can limit blood flow, causing skin and other tissues to break down or die. When left untreated, bedsores can progress through several different stages:

• Stage I – These bedsores typically appear as a persistent area of redness on the skin, and a person may experience itching, pain, or tenderness. In this stage, the skin is not broken yet, but it may feel warm to the touch, and discoloration may become darker with time. If bedsores are recognized at this stage, they can be treated by cleaning and dressing a wound and changing a person’s position. With proper treatment, these sores may heal within a few days.
• Stage II – These bedsores involve damage to the skin, with open wounds and blistering that may appear in the affected area. These sores can become painful and infected if not treated properly. Treatment will usually involve cleaning and bandaging a wound, and these sores may heal within a few weeks.
• Stage III – These bedsores are deep wounds that extend into the underlying tissues below the skin, causing a great deal of pain and most likely leading to infection. In this stage, the skin is broken and damage is more extensive, so treatment may require surgery and/or antibiotics to prevent further complications. These sores will usually take a few months to heal.
• Stage IV – These are the most serious and advanced form of bedsores, with deep wounds that go beyond the skin and cause damage to muscles, tendons, or bones. They can cause immense pain, as well as a high risk of infection, and they may require extensive medical treatment to heal properly. They may take years to fully heal, and they can also put the life of an elderly nursing home patient at risk.

Get Help With Nursing Home Bedsore Injuries

Bedsores are serious nursing home injuries that can cause immense pain and suffering for those affected. If your loved one has suffered from bedsore injuries due to nursing home negligence, the team at Nursing Home Injury Center can evaluate the situation and advise you on how best to proceed. We can help you take action against a negligent nursing home, and we will work to ensure that your loved one and other nursing home residents will be protected from harm in the future. To learn more about how we can help with concerns related to nursing home injuries, contact us at 309-524-6900 and arrange a free consultation.