Nursing Home Negligence - Wound Care

Wound care with the elderly requires special protocols and precautions. Older adults are more prone to wound complications such as difficulty healing and serious infections. Thinner, more brittle skin requires special care and consideration for safety and sanitation. At a nursing home, all staff members should have the knowledge and training to properly handle all types of wounds. If a wound or injury is outside of their realm of capabilities, it is the nursing home’s job to take the resident to the hospital for further medical evaluation. Signs that a nursing home has failed to properly care for a senior citizen’s wounds include:

• Allowing a treatable wound to get worse
• Failing to adequately care for a chronic wound
• Bacterial infections and/or sepsis
• Failing to prevent open bleeding
• Not debriding dead skin around a wound to facilitate healing
• Malnourishing residents, reducing their ability to heal
• Allowing bedsores or pressure ulcers to form from bedrest or immobility
• Allowing a wound to get too dry or too wet
• Failing to recommend further medical treatment or hospitalization
• Allowing unexplained illnesses or premature deaths
• Failing to regularly change bandages and/or dressing

Lack of appropriate and sanitary wound care can worsen a resident’s health status and lead to death. If a negligent nursing home or one of its staff members made the final months or years of your loved one’s life more painful or sickly than they otherwise would have been, or if your loved one suffered a serious infection or other complication from improper wound care, talk to a lawyer. You could have a case of negligence on your hands that gives your family the right to recover money damages.