Should a nursing home’s staff become overworked or irritable, it is possible for a resident’s needs to go neglected. In these cases, a nursing home resident could develop bedsores and fall prey to the conditions that complicate these injuries and cause lasting discomfort.
If you have a loved one in a nursing home, and they develop bedsores, you can work with a Dallas bedsores lawyer through Pintas & Mullins Law Firm to pursue compensation. You may only do so, however, if you are a blood relative or the spouse of the suffering party.
You can rely on a Dallas bedsores lawyer to help you explore the legal options available to you and to calculate the compensation to which your loved one may be entitled.
To discuss your case with a Pintas & Mullins Law Firm representative, call (800) 842-6336.
What Bedsores Are
Bedsores are large wounds that tend to develop on the back of a person’s thighs, backside, and lower back. These wounds reflect the poor condition in which a person has been kept and can grow more severe over time. Most medical professionals break down bedsore development into the following four stages:
- Stage 1: The skin of a person’s thighs, backside, or lower back might become red, irritated, and sensitive to the touch. However, the skin will be intact rather than actively wounded. Future bedsores may resemble bruises.
- Stage 2: The previously reddened areas will begin to suffer from long-term friction. The skin in these areas will erode, leaving behind a revealed epidermis. These wounds are not classified by medical professionals as “open” but can allow an infection to settle in if they are left untreated.
- Stage 3: Sores that previously appeared as bruises will open into pus-filled wounds that ooze continuously. Patients at this stage can go into shock if the wound is infected or if the condition is allowed to worsen.
- Stage 4: A bedsore might be so deep that nursing home caretakers and loved ones may be able to identify bone through the open wound. Muscle damage already done at this stage will likely become permanent, and a victim could have to undergo long-term physical therapy to regain the ability to move the injured body part. Untreated victims may suffer from paralysis or nerve damage if their wounds go unrecognized by nursing care staff or visiting relatives.
What Causes Bedsores
A nursing home resident tends to develop bedsores when they do not have the ability or opportunity to move frequently enough. These sores tend to develop when the flow of blood is cut off from a part of the body due to long-term pressure, be that from gravity or the friction of the material in contact with the skin. The longer the parts of a person’s body go without regular blood flow, the more likely those parts are to experience decay.
For a free legal consultation with a Dallas Bedsores Lawyer serving Dallas, call (800) 794-0444
When Bedsores Indicate Nursing Home Abuse
Bedsores are typically a sign of neglect, which is a type of abuse, according to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Quality Monitoring Program. When caretakers are overworked or simply refuse to care for a particular patient, those patients who have a difficult time moving on their own may be confined to their beds for days or weeks at a time. Not only do these parties suffer from decreased hygiene, dehydration, and malnutrition, but they can rapidly progress through the stages of bedsore development.
If you believe your loved one suffered bedsores as a result of negligence enacted by an institution or an individual, you can work with a Dallas bedsores lawyer to gather applicable evidence and file a civil lawsuit. Contact the team at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today.
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What to Do if a Loved One Suffers from Bedsores
If you discover that a loved one in a nursing home suffers from bedsores, you can take action immediately by following the steps below.
Step 1: Seek Medical Attention
Before you think of taking legal action, do what you can to get your loved one into the care of an attentive medical professional. Bedsore treatment will vary based on the stage that your loved one’s condition has reached. However, you can work with a team to determine how that condition came to be and what treatments could best help your loved one get back on their feet.
Step 2: Catalog Your Loved One’s Losses
While your loved one is undergoing recovery, you can work with an investigator or on your own to determine what conditions led to your loved one’s development of bedsores. Through this stage, you can gather evidence of neglect or other mistreatment in a nursing home and work with medical professionals to determine the severity of the bedsores at the time you discovered them.
In doing so, you can begin to catalog your non-economic and economic losses to later establish a damage estimate.
Step 3: Reach out for Legal Assistance
You have a few legal options available to you in the aftermath of a bedsore incident. You can file a demand letter with the institution that housed your loved one and request compensation accordingly. Alternatively, you can file a complaint within Texas’s statute of limitations, as outlined in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure §12.01, and allow a judge to consider your case.
A Dallas bedsores lawyer can help you determine which of these documents may suit your needs best. The attorneys can also help you process a settlement offer, should the offending institution choose to reach out to you before you have time to take legal action.
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A Dallas Bedsores Lawyer Can Fight for You
Bedsores are far more than just uncomfortable for a nursing home resident to endure. They are a sign of significant neglect and abuse. If your loved one suffers from bedsores, you can work with an attorney from Pintas & Mullins Law Firm to pursue compensation.
You can reach out for a free case consultation at (800) 842-6336.
Call or text (800) 794-0444 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
