Experienced NYC Bedsore Lawyers At Kucher Law Group

A Stage 4 bedsore is a frightening experience, as any nursing facility neglect lawyer will attest. The appearance of a Stage 4 bedsore is typically a large, gaping area of damaged and dead skin and tissue. It is easy to see bones, ligaments, and tendons as well as fibers and joints. Because no one has cleaned the sores, crusty tissues may form around them in severe cases.

Once a bedsore has reached this stage, an infection can occur. It is often not possible to heal. Cellulitis and sepsis are two common complications. Your family member should seek treatment from an experienced doctor who is familiar with advanced bedsores. A less experienced doctor may cause more harm than good. A nursing home negligence lawyer can help you pursue a medical malpractice case.

It is important to ensure that your loved ones are receiving the right care. You can do this by meeting with the staff at the hospital or nursing home to ensure that you are on the same page. It is also possible to transfer your loved one to a different facility. 

Next, you will want to get the medical records from the facility that caused the bedsore. It is important to take photographs of bedsores to demonstrate the extent of it. After you have done all of these things, calling an attorney to help the family make decisions and begin the investigation into the cause of the bedsore should be the next priority.

For those facilities that care for elderly populations, risk assessment for pressure ulcers and bedsores is essential for proactive treatment. Many factors make a patient more at risk for developing bedsores in an institutional setting. 

• Poor mobility or inability to independently change position
• Poor nutrition
• Compromised blood flow due to other diseases
• Neuropathy and other factors that compromise sensation, such as spinal cord damage, stroke, MS, or other conditions
• Patients with darker skin pigmentation may make it harder to recognize early signs of bedsores
• Inadequate support surfaces
• Pain management that sedates patients causing them to move less frequently
• Advanced age and health issues limiting the ability to move independently
• Mental status, dementia, and other cognitive disorders that inhibit a patient’s understanding of the need to move
• Incontinence that causes skin damage, increasing the risk of pressure ulcers

Neglect is the failure to meet a legal standard of care to maintain a patient’s health and wellbeing. When a patient isn’t receiving that care, bedsores can be one of the first signs of neglect in a facility. Unfortunately, the administration, doctors, or other employees understand their liability and often fail to notify a family or try to pass the responsibility on to another party. 

When elderly adults are neglected, the nursing facility or abuser can be held accountable. Any neglect or abuse can be reported to the New York State Department of Health, Nursing Homes and ICF/IID Surveillance. At Kucher Law Group, founding attorney Samantha Kucher and our experienced New York nursing home negligence lawyers are here to help you hold the negligent parties accountable.

Call us at (929) 563-6780 to schedule a free consultation.

Unfortunately, neglect is often the result of inadequate staffing and oversight. Many employees in these settings are overworked, stressed, and not properly trained to provide the quality of care necessary to keep residents healthy and free from harm. In other cases, facilities are negligent in conducting the proper background and employment reference checks when hiring employees. 

Most neglect in these facilities is due to:

• Insufficient staffing with not enough staff to care for the residents, reducing the overall quality of care
• Negligent hiring practices without doing appropriate background checks or ensuring that staff is qualified for the work they are being hired for
• Inadequate training ensures that staff understands the protocol and appropriate care in specific situations
• Lack of reporting or accountability when neglect has been witnessed

Residents of nursing homes and other care facilities may be afraid to say anything or be unable to recognize the signs of bedsore and appreciate their danger. Those who complain about neglect are often dismissed because of their advanced age or their mental impairment. 

It is critical for family members to remain watchful for signs of neglect when they have a loved one in a nursing home or assisted living facility. These elderly loved ones deserve respect, dignity, and a supportive environment ensuring their health and wellbeing. 

When a facility is in breach of its duty to provide this, it may be held accountable for any damages that result. Bedsore injuries can lead to lawsuits involving hospital and nursing home negligence, medical malpractice, and in the case of a fatality, wrongful death. If your loved one has been neglected in an assisted living or nursing home environment, the experienced New York medical abuse attorneys at Kucher Law Group can help you seek the justice they deserve.

To schedule a free consultation, call us today at (929) 563-6780.

Staff and doctors are legally responsible for the prevention of bedsores. A contract signed between a patient and facility is a legally binding document, with failure to care for a patient under its terms possibly resulting in criminal or civil penalties. 

Bedsores are specifically addressed under both federal and state laws, including 42 CFR § 483.25 (b)(1) and 10 NYCRR § 415.12(c). These laws require that facilities must have measures and protocols in place for the quality treatment of residents and patients to prevent the development of bedsores and other neglect. A facility must provide the treatment necessary to deal with existing pressure ulcers and prevent new ones from developing. 

At Kucher Law Group, our skilled team of New York City bedsore lawyers can help you hold a negligent party accountable for the neglect of your loved one.

We conduct a thorough investigation to determine what led to the negligence and hold all parties responsible, including:

• The nursing home
• A hospital
• Facility administrators
• Physicians
• Staff and employees
• Third-party vendors

In a bedsore lawsuit, damages awarded serve as punishment for the at-fault party’s negligent acts. As each bedsore lawsuit is different, the extent of these damages can vary greatly.

A qualified bedsore attorney will have to evaluate the factors in each case to give an accurate estimate of how much a settlement might be worth. An overview of your case will give you the information necessary to estimate the amount of settlement you can expect from the lawsuit. If you decide to take legal action, however, you will need to conduct a thorough analysis.

Looking into some examples of a typical settlement for a bedsore lawsuit in the U.S.  is helpful to see how they are done.

Here are some examples:

• If the bedsores are caused by negligence, but the patient is able to recover quickly, the settlement for a bedsore case may be between $150,000 and $300,000.
• In a bedsore case where the patient is hospitalized, it could cost as much as $500,000.
• Patients with Stage 4 bedsores, which cause severe pain and suffering, or permanent, long-term damage, may have to settle for a significantly greater amount than $500,000.
• If serious bedsores are shown to have contributed directly to the death of a person, the surviving family members may bring a wrongful-death lawsuit that could be worth as much as $1 million. This is especially true if the patient was not an elderly individual.