Every year, pressure ulcers affect more than one million acute care and nursing facility patients. Lawsuits over pressure ulcers are becoming increasingly common in both settings, with claims per occupied bed increasing at an annual rate of 14 percent and the average court settlement rising more than $250,000. In addition to the bottom line implications -- Medicare data estimates the average cost associated with pressure ulcer treatment is over $40,000 -- a pressure ulcer-related lawsuit can do severe damage to a facility's reputation for providing quality patient care, devastating staff morale and turning clients away.
The interrelationship between medical decision-making, reimbursement and legal issues relating to pressure ulcers has never been greater and the medical-legal landscape itself has never been more treacherous.
The items that need to be implemented to stop this terrible painful neglectful care are:
-- Assessing the Legal Implications of Healthcare Facility "Policies and
Procedures"
-- Assessing Compliance with Prescribing Rules
-- Changing and Practicing within Scope of Practice
-- Managing Expectations and Communicating Carefully
-- Clinical Documentation
-- Preventability: Avoidable, Unavoidable, Preventable or Never Events?
-- Education: The Need for Learning Never Ends
-- Preventive Clinical Care
Pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores, pressure sores or decubitus ulcers, occur in hospitals, nursing homes and long-term care facilities as a result of multiple internal and external factors, including unrelieved pressure on the skin. The lack of blood flow to an area of the skin may first be noticed as a change in color such as red in light skin or darker brown or black in darkly pigmented persons or irritated skin. Areas of deep tissue death may not be readily visible until they result in large open wounds.
When the treatment and prevention of pressure ulcers comes under legal scrutiny, it is often alleged as negligence and / or complete unadulterated neglect.
Watch and make sure your loved elder is receiving the treatment they have bargained for. Should they be bedridden or confined to a wheelchair, make sure they are re-positioned daily. if not, the elder will sustain a bedsore. Pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores, pressure sores or decubitus ulcers can be very very painful. WATCH, WATCH, WATCH!!!
Contact Steven Peck's Premier Legal toll at 1-866-999-9085 free to talk to an experienced nursing home abuse and neglect attorney
