Nursing Home Bed Sore Attorneys in Charleston

Skilled South Carolina Bed Sore Attorneys

Nursing homes, hospice care facilities, and other assisted living facilities have a responsibility to care for residents. When they violate that duty and a patient contracts serious bed sores or complications from bed sores, you can turn to a nursing home abuse attorney at Pierce, Sloan, Kennedy & Early LLC for advocacy. Our firm is prepared to help you seek justice.

We can help you and your family hold the facility responsible for the medical harm they have caused by poor care. Our Charleston nursing home neglect and abuse lawyers are prepared to work aggressively on your behalf and to prevent future harm to other residents.

Contact us or call the firm at (843) 968-0886 to schedule a free initial consultation today.

What Are Bed Sores?

Bed sores, also known as pressure ulcers, are injuries to the skin and underlying tissue that occur when an area of skin supports an unusual amount of weight for an extended period of time. While normal movement and regular re-positioning of one’s body generally prevents the formation of bed sores, some nursing home residents have conditions or paralysis that makes them unable to move their own bodies, and thus they must rely on nursing home staff members to periodically adjust their positioning.

Bed sores most commonly develop on skin that covers bony areas of the body, including:

• Heels
• Ankles
• Hips
• Tailbone
• Shoulders
• Back
• Back of the head

Bed sores can form on the bodies of nursing home residents who are bed or chair bound, as these residents often have difficulty or are completely incapable of periodically re-positioning their bodies to redistribute their weight. Nursing home staff members have a duty to help these residents so that bed sores do not form.

Prevention Is The Best Medicine

Bed sores have the potential to be immensely painful and run a high risk of becoming infected. When bed sores get worse, they can be costly to treat and can require a lot of care. That is why preventing bed sores in the first place is the best approach. Nursing home staff members are trained to help residents with known issues with self-mobility, such as residents who have mobility issues after a stroke, and to move or re-position these residents every so many hours in order to prevent pressure ulcers from forming on the skin.

When Does A Bed Sore Rise To The Level of Abuse Or Neglect?

There are some instances where the development of a bed sore might be expected. For example, a nursing home resident who is obese with diabetes may very well develop a bed sore or diabetic ulcer despite nursing home staff’s best efforts to prevent it, simply due to the resident’s medical conditions in conjunction with their weight. However, there is little to no excuse for an average-weighted resident to develop a bedsore while living in a nursing home.

Some nursing homes do not have enough staff members on hand to provide adequate care and attention to each resident in a nursing home. Other nursing homes have poorly trained workers, or staff members who feel that they are not paid enough to properly care for residents. Regardless, nursing homes have a duty to provide reasonable care to their residents, and failing to do so is abuse or neglect.

Taking Legal Action for Neglect

Legal action against nursing homes, hospice care, and assisted living facilities can prevent future harm to your loved one, as well as other elderly residents in the same facility. We can use public safety laws to further hold negligent nursing homes responsible for health and safety violations, including nursing home abuse.