Pressure Ulcer Lawyers
Bed Sores And Pressure Ulcers In Nursing Homes
Key Takeaways
- Care facilities carry a duty of proper care to monitor pressure wounds, so the chart should show regular skin checks and risk scoring from the early stages through any advanced wound.
- In 2004, about 159,000 U.S. nursing home residents (11%) had pressure ulcers, according to a national CDC survey, and CMS publishes a long-stay nursing home quality measure for residents with pressure ulcers.
- A case review asks whether the facility recognized the risk, followed the care plan, escalated changes in the wound, and documented what happened at each stage.
Wound Chart and Care Plan Records
A pressure wound review compares the wound stage, turning records, skin checks, nutrition, hydration, infection signs, and hospital transfer records against what the care plan required. Pressure wounds can begin unnoticed and turn dangerous fast. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality describes pressure ulcers as a serious nursing-home problem tied to pain, disfigurement, infection risk, longer hospital stays, and increased mortality risk.
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Skin Risk
Charts should show skin checks, a Braden or similar risk score, immobility level, moisture, nutrition, cognition, and any prior wound history. Risk scoring is supposed to happen on a set schedule, so missing or infrequent skin checks are one of the first gaps a case review looks for.
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Prevention Steps
Turning and repositioning schedules, pressure-relief surfaces, nutrition care, incontinence care, and wound-nurse orders show what should have happened once a resident was identified as at risk. A documented risk score with no later change to the care plan is a gap to examine.
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Escalation
Infection, odor, drainage, fever, sepsis markers, wound debridement, a hospital admission, or delayed notice to the physician can extend a single-wound review across the resident’s entire stay. The time between when a wound was first noted and when it was escalated to a physician is a central question.
Pressure Ulcer Rates and Quality Measures
In 2004, about 159,000 U.S. nursing home residents (11%) had pressure ulcers, according to National Nursing Home Survey data in CDC NCHS Data Brief 14. CMS lists “Percent of Residents with Pressure Ulcers” among its long-stay nursing home quality measures, so a facility’s own result on that measure can be checked, per the CMS quality measures program.
Wounds are staged, dated, and charted under standard nursing practice. Wound notes should show stage, size, location, and treatment over time, consistent with the documentation approach in the AHRQ On-Time Pressure Ulcer Prevention program.
Records to Request or Preserve
The records created closest to the wound carry the most weight: nursing notes from when the wound was first observed, the risk assessment on file before that date, and any communication with the family or attending physician once the wound was identified. A gap in any one of those records is an early flag in a case review.
Pressure-wound cases are fact-specific, and some wounds can develop despite proper care. The review asks whether the facility recognized the resident’s risk, followed the written care plan, escalated changes in the wound promptly, and documented what happened at each stage of care.
Photograph and Date the Wound
Save wound photos, discharge papers, medication records, and the facility’s explanations. Dated photographs let a reviewer track how a wound progressed against what the chart says the facility was doing about it during the same period.
Bed Sore or Pressure Ulcer From Nursing Home Care?
Dated wound photos, skin checks, turning records, and the facility’s explanations show how a pressure wound developed under the facility’s care. Sam Aguiar Injury Lawyers takes pressure ulcer cases under the Bigger Share Guarantee®. Clients always walk away with more money than the firm after medical bills, liens, and case expenses are paid. If the client’s share would ever be less than the legal fee, the firm cuts its fee. Flat contingency fee that never increases if your case goes to trial.
A free case review for a bed sore or pressure ulcer starts with a call to 502-888-8888. Most cases qualify in under 10 minutes.
Why Clients Choose Sam Aguiar
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