A nursing home can be a breeding ground for various infections and diseases. Contagious infections spread easily due to close proximity of residents, staff, and visitors, all of whom can potentially carry and pass on infectious diseases. Residents share rooms, bathrooms, public spaces and food, making the spread of infections hard to avoid.
It is essential to treat infections in a prompt and timely manner or they can lead to serious complications. Untreated infections can eventually spread throughout the entire body, causing sepsis and septic shock.
Older persons with weaker immune systems are particularly at risk from infections and the health risks associated with infections. Has your spouse or parent suffered from untreated infections in their nursing home, or even passed away as a result of an untreated infection? You might be able to hold the nursing home accountable and file a lawsuit for compensation. Call Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today to find out how a Riverside untreated infections lawyer from our team can help you file a personal injury or wrongful death case.
Infections in Nursing Homes
When we have a close relative, spouse, or parent in a nursing home, we want them to be well cared for and monitored for illnesses and infections constantly. One of the reasons why many families decide to place their loved one in a long-term care facility is because they feel the nursing home staff has the time and medical training to care for their loved one appropriately.
It can therefore come as a shock to find out your loved one is suffering from lingering infections and associated health problems unnecessarily. Common infections in nursing homes, such as urinary tract infections, infections of the skin (particularly bedsores), gastrointestinal infections, and respiratory infections are not necessarily life threatening if recognized and treated quickly.
However, if a urinary tract infection, cited as the most common nursing home infection by the NCBI, remains undiagnosed and untreated, the infection can easily spread to the kidneys, and from there it can travel into the bloodstream, leading to sepsis, a potentially fatal complication.
Bedsores are another relatively common infection in nursing homes. Bedsores typically start as a relatively harmless area of skin redness. However, if unrecognized and untreated, bedsores can eventually expose muscles and even bone, as well as result in sepsis, requiring expensive and lengthy hospital treatments. If treatment of infections is left too late, the worst can happen.
A Nursing Home Can Be Held Liable
It is important to know your loved one’s rights when it comes to nursing home care. Your loved one deserves an environment free of abuse and neglect. Nursing homes have a responsibility to care for your loved one to a certain standard according to state and federal laws.One of the biggest killers in nursing homes is avoidable sepsis infections, according to a recent study by Kaiser Health News. In many cases, sepsis is entirely preventable if nursing home staff recognize and treat the primary infection early on. Infections such as sepsis can be a sign of nursing home neglect. A long-term care facility is neglectful when, for example, the staffing levels are too low for staff to be able to tend to every resident appropriately.
Staff may be too overworked to recognize symptoms of common infections, or too busy to alert the resident’s physician in a timely manner. Nursing home staff might also be lacking the training or qualifications to recognize the signs of an infection. In the meantime, an infection has ample time to spread and to potentially turn into life-threatening sepsis.
A nursing home could also be negligent when hygiene practices are lacking, causing new infections or aggravating existing ones. This can happen when staff neglects a resident’s basic personal hygiene needs, such as bathing, frequent changing of diapers, and carrying out appropriate wound care.
For a free legal consultation with a Untreated Infections Lawyer serving Riverside, call (800) 794-0444
Your Nursing Home Lawyer Will Fight for You
If your loved one is suffering from the effects of untreated infections, or died as a result of an untreated infection, you might be thinking about filing a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit to protect your loved one and your family from financial losses.
Taking on a nursing home and its lawyers can feel like an uphill battle. Collecting evidence and witnesses, as well as discussing medical issues with your loved one’s physicians, can prove lengthy and challenging.
Do not let this discourage you from holding the nursing home accountable and helping your loved obtain compensation. Some of the awards that you might receive could make a big difference to your loved one’s recovery and go some way to cover any bills that you or your loved one had to pay as a result of an untreated infection and nursing home neglect.
The awards from a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit could potentially cover bills from lengthy hospital stays, prescription drugs, and transportation between medical facilities, to mention just a few examples. Additionally, your loved one could receive compensation for mental and physical pain and suffering, as well as for any future medical costs that arise due to injuries suffered by nursing home neglect.
A Riverside untreated infections lawyer from our team can fight for you and advise you on your legal options, whether you are looking to file a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. Call Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today to find out if you have a case and how we can help you. We do not charge attorney’s fees unless we win your case. Call us today for a free consultation.
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