Nursing Home Sued Over Patient Death

Santa Fe nursing home sued over a patient's wrongful death

A nursing home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is being sued over the death of a woman in 2010. According to reporting in the Santa Fe New Mexican, the lawsuit was filed by her son. At the time of her death, the woman was 85-years-old.

Bedsores.

This lawsuit centers on bedsores. While many people may not think of bedsores as anything but a minor problem that quickly resolves with treatment, they can become deadly, particularly in older individuals. According to the lawsuit, the woman in question was taken to a nearby medical center due to problems walking. Nurses at the hospital said that she was at risk of developing pressure sores – the medical term for bedsores – and recommended that she be placed on an air bed and turned every two hours to avoid this happening.
The lawsuit alleges that this procedure was never followed, and as a consequence of that, she developed a sore on her tailbone. She also had multiple other infections. The lawsuit also alleges that the woman was discovered by her relatives to be lying in her bed with her sheets and clothing covered in urine and feces. The complaint also alleges that the nursing staff told the family that there were three patients in the nursing home and only two people to provide care for those patients.
After several visits to the doctor to have dead tissue removed, the woman eventually succumbed to her infections and died.

Neglect.

Lawsuits over wrongful death in nursing homes often center on instances of neglect. Patients in nursing homes are sometimes incapacitated enough that they cannot effectively communicate any discomfort they are having and they are completely reliant upon the nursing staff to be able to provide them with adequate care. When the nursing staff is negligent in that duty, people oftentimes end up suffering grievous injuries or even dying.
If you have a loved one in a nursing home and if pressure sores are frequent problems, you may want to investigate whether or not they are receiving adequate care. Pressure sores, in many cases, can be easily prevented by rotating the patient off of the affected area of their body routinely and making certain that the infection does not spread. Left unattended, pressure sores can tunnel deep into the body, become infected and become deadly. Like many causes of death in nursing homes, pressure sores are entirely preventable and entirely treatable, as well.