Chicago Nursing Home Abuse Lawyer Blog

Theresa Steiner’s relative is suing an Illinois nursing home for wrongful death. Steven Streiner says Caseyville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center’s failure to properly treat Theresa’s nursing home bedsores, which caused her sepsis and subsequent death.

The Illinois nursing home admitted Theresa as patient on December 12, 2008. She had a pressure sore on each heel. On her buttock, she had 3 stage II pressure sores.

When she was discharged from the assisted living facility and admitted to a hospital on December 19, 2008, there were a number of sores on her heels and the decubitus ulcers on her buttocks had turned into stage IV bedsores.

The Illinois nursing home neglect complaint contends that as a result of the pressure sores, Theresa developed sepsis. She died on January 7, 2009.

Sepsis
Sepsis is a serious illness that involves an infection in the bloodstream. People with injuries, wounds, or compromised immune systems and those who use catheters have a higher risk of developing sepsis.

Prior to her passing, Steven says Theresa experienced suffering, pain, loss of dignity, emotional trauma, and mental anguish. He is claiming Illinois nursing home negligence, including the alleged failure to properly screen her before admitting her as a nursing home resident, failure to develop a proper care plan for treating Theresa’s decubitus ulcers, failure to hire a proper wound care nurse, failure to notify her doctor that the pressure sores were getting worse, and failure to establish the proper policies regarding pressure sore care.

Steven is seeking over $300,000 in damages plus related costs. The defendants named in the Illinois nursing home negligence lawsuit are Caseyville Property and Caseyville Nursing and Rehabilitation.

Bedsores
Nursing homes must have the proper care plan for treating a patient’s pressure sores. Failure to provide that care can turn what should be a treatable condition into a serious injury that can turn fatal and can be grounds for an Illinois nursing home neglect or wrongful death lawsuit.

Nursing home blamed for resident's sepsis, Madison Record, December 7, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Sepsis, Medline

Pressure Sores, Mayo Clinic

A jury has awarded the family of Catherine Taylor $51,000 for the nursing home neglect that caused her to develop a huge bedsore that contributed to her death. Taylor was 88 when she died in December 2004.

She lived at the Joliet nursing home in July and August of that year. On August 19, the nursing home resident was hospitalized and underwent surgery to remove an enormous bedsore that her family's Will County nursing home neglect lawyer says was a hole as big as his fist. She also received treatment for bone infections that occurred while she was confined to her bed and exposed to her own bodily fluids. Her family contends that the nursing home bedsore was contributing factor in her Will County wrongful death.

Bedsores
Bedsores can lead to infection, gangrene, fever, muscle tone loss, contusions, clotting, and death. Also called decubitus ulcers, pressure ulcers, or pressure sores, they can develop on the parts of a patient’s body that experiences sustained pressure.

Bedsores can occur when from staying in the same position for a period of time, such as when a patient who is confined to a chair, bed, or wheelchair cannot move without help and the nursing home workers neglect to provide that assistance. Bowel or bladder control problems, which causes urine, perspiration, urine, or stool to irritate the skin, and dehydration or malnutrition can also contribute to causing bedsores.

Nursing home workers are supposed to make sure that patients are turned regularly, bathed, cleaned, and dried properly, changed on a regular basis, and given sufficient food and drink. They can be held liable for Will County, Illinois nursing home neglect if failure to provide the proper care causes a patient to sustain bedsores and other related complications. Bedsores are preventable.

Jury faults nursing home in neglect case, Suburban Chicago News, December 2, 2009

Bed Sores -- The Basics, Bedsores.org

Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Safety Task Force

Compromised Care, Chicago Tribune