A resident at the Palos Hills Healthcare nursing home in Palos Hills, Illinois developed a Stage 4 bed sore while a resident of the facility.
The bed sore was first discovered in September of last year, just 16 days after the resident was admitted to the Palos Hills Healthcare facility. Upon admission, the nursing home staff determined that the resident had no bed sores. They also determined that the resident was a low risk for developing a bed sore despite the fact that he was immobile and incontinent of bowel and bladder.
By the time the bed sore was discovered it was already four centimeters wide. A month later, the bed sore had continued to grow. A wound care assessment determined that it was a Stage 4 bed sore, a designation that indicates a bone-deep wound.
I hope that the Palos Hills Healthcare resident is on the road to recovery, but as an experienced Chicago nursing home lawyer, I feel that the odds of a recovery aren’t very good. Palos Hills has shown a stunning lack of proper training and knowledge in the handling of the resident’s bed sore so far. I doubt that a complete turnaround is likely.
It’s a little known fact outside of the nursing home industry that bed sores often prove to be fatal. Many bed sores, like the one that developed on the Palos Hills Healthcare resident, are located on the tailbone. A nursing home that delays or fails to properly conduct incontinent care can be responsible for fecal matter regularly entering the resident’s wound. The infection that inevitably results can often be the direct cause of a resident’s wrongful death.
Bed sores are some of the most dangerous wounds that a person can receive. They are generally the result of a combination of three factors: dehydration and malnutrition, being left for extended periods of time in one position, and damp or unclean conditions. These are the most common types of nursing home neglect.
Bed sores should never develop in a nursing home. If you have a loved one who has developed bed sores in an Illinois nursing home, contact our Chicago nursing home lawyers for a free and confidential evaluation of your case.
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