When you leave your loved one in the care of a nursing facility, you entrust the staff there with their well-being and life. While many rise to the occasion and provide great comfort and service, others fall short. Some may even end up making choices that actively harm your loved one.
When looking for signs of harm, mistreatment or neglect, it is easy to focus on things that seem obvious, like bruising or malnourishment. But some signs might actually be smaller and harder to miss, like bedsores.
What are pressure ulcers?
Johns Hopkins Medicine takes a look at bedsores, also called by the scientific name pressure ulcers. These look like blisters that can range in size and severity from small and hardly noticeable, to large and bone-deep. They often form at the joints, along the back, at the hips and tailbone, and the back of the heels.
Pressure ulcers occur, as the name suggests, when pressure gets applied to an area for a prolonged period of time. You can see it in cases where a bedridden patient does not get turned in bed often enough, or when someone stays in a wheelchair for too long.
Ties to negligence
Unfortunately, this is also why pressure ulcers could point to negligence. It takes hours for bed sores to form, which means a victim may have stayed in one position for hours at a time before anyone noticed that they were or had a chance to move them. With bedridden patients or patients with limited mobility, an attentive staff would watch them and interact with them often enough to ensure they do not stay unmoving long enough to form pressure ulcers.
Thus, if you notice these sores, you may want to consider reaching out for legal aid. They can help guide you as you decide what to do next.
