Skilled Nursing Facility Sued Over Neglect

A skilled nursing facility in Fairmont, California has been sued by the wife of a resident for reckless or willful neglect. The consequences of the alleged neglect are gruesome but, unfortunately, they are in line with what oftentimes happens in these cases.

Untreated wounds.

The resident was admitted to the facility after having suffered a stroke. He was being rehabilitated to help him gain control of his right side again, according to a report in the Oakland Tribune.
If the treatment had gone as planned, the resident would've been able to return home in short order, but things went horribly wrong. The resident was taken to a doctor to have a sore examined. When he unwrapped the bandage, the stench was bad enough to overwhelm the entire room, according to the report. On the man's left foot were two infected wounds that had progressed to the point of being gangrenous.
Unfortunately, the resident ended up needing to have his foot amputated to prevent the infection from spreading throughout his body.
The resident alleges that care at the facility was a nightmare. He would sometimes end up on the floor for hours needing assistance getting to the bathroom and having the staff completely ignore his call button. The report details that the man has to go to bed by 3 PM because, if he tries to go to bed after that, the staff will not help them.
In addition to losing his foot, the man suffered pneumonia, had lost enough blood to require a transfusion and was anemic and malnourished, according to the report. Cases of nursing home abuse and neglect this bad can progress quickly to a life-threatening situation, as they obviously did for the man in question.

Lawsuits.

Incidences of nursing home neglect that result in someone suffering injuries necessitate legal action. You'll have to consult with an attorney before you know for sure whether or not going forward with the lawsuit would benefit you, but these consultations are generally free. The attorney will need to know the circumstances at the nursing home, how the patient was neglected and the type of suffering they were put through due to that neglect. Situations that involve neglect or abuse at nursing home facilities should be reported to the authorities immediately. In addition to facing a lawsuit, the facility that abused the man in the article has also been fined by the state.