Hospital Bed Sores

Annually, for thousands of patients, being hospitalized can become an abhorrent experience when they develop during their stay bedsores.

Some medical centers have placed a premium on medical technology and research at the expense of offering treatment and care hands-on for patients overall healthcare needs.

When it pertains to patients who have acquired a pressure sore during an admission to a hospital, personal injury attorneys commit to prosecuting to the fullest extent the case under state medical negligence law.

Medical staff must remember that a number of patients healthcare conditions result in physical disability which can increase any risk of developing hospital bed sores.

Offering quality medical care, further, requires practitioners to assess the patient entirely, as opposed to treating an acute condition for which, originally, they may have been admitted for.

Identifying the importance of hospitals to take measures to prevent any development of bedsores in patients, Medicare includes pressure sores at Stage 3 and 4 on a compiled list of never events, or complications which are preventable with essential attention and treatment, which merely should never occur initially.

Medicare, starting in 2008, along with several major health insurers, made a decision not to reimburse any hospitals for any related charges to the treatment of bedsores that are hospital-acquired.

When medical centers neglect to provide the essential care for their patients, and in turn the patient develops bedsores while staying at a hospital, the patient or family member may be entitled to pursue a lawsuit for medical malpractice against the medical facility for the resulting disability, pain, and medical costs.

During the last two decades, although medical breakthroughs and technology continue to emerge, the incidence of hospital bed sores has sadly increased.

According to the most recent studies for healthcare quality and research, the amount in total of hospital stays due to bedsores has seen an increase since 1993 of nearly 80%.

A decade ago, there were more than 500,000 hospital stays for bedsores as the diagnosis.

Though some of these cases were individuals who were admitted to the medical center with a pressure sore as the primary reason, or as a condition coexisting, there are also secondary bedsores which may have resulted from the stay at the hospital.

In fact, 9 out of 10 of the hospital stays for pressure sore patients admitted were initially for other treatment.

Among all other conditions treated at a medical facility, in comparison, bedsores are more apt to result in long-term facility admission, like a nursing home.

They are even more likely to have deadly results.

Patients admitted into a nursing home facility with a bedsore have a mortality rate of 50% at the end of one year, as opposed to 27% in individuals without bedsores.

Before you accept that your family member’s hospital bed sores were unpreventable, contact an attorney immediately who can advise you of various legal options.

Contact us for a free consultation or call Anzalone Law Firm PLLC, at: 603.548.3797.