Can a Nursing Home be Sued If a Resident is Diagnosed With Sepsis?
Many people have never heard of sepsis before until they had to put a loved one in a nursing home. You should be able to expect your loved ones to be treated respectfully and receive the appropriate care for their condition. However, as any bedsore attorney in Nassau County will tell you, this is not always what happens. Negligence in nursing homes today is too common and many times it can lead to illness, diseases, or even death. Sepsis is a serious condition and you could file a lawsuit against a nursing home with your bedsore attorney if your loved one develops the condition.
What Exactly Is Sepsis?
Sepsis often occurs when nursing home residents develop bedsores. These bedsores can occur when people don’t move in their beds for a long time and develop sores as a result. If left untreated, those sores can get infected and lead to major health concerns. When the body naturally tries to fight the infection, sepsis can occur and be life-threatening in certain people.
Early Diagnosis And Treatment Are Essential For Patients With Sepsis
A NY bedsore lawyer in Suffolk County will always ask what a nursing home did to try to prevent bedsores and the resulting sepsis diagnosis. Once it is determined a nursing home resident has sepsis, immediate action should be taken to help them recover. This can include IV fluids, antibiotics, and other treatments. It’s especially important for older people to be treated immediately since their immune systems might not be as strong to help fight off the infection.
Without early diagnosis and treatment of sepsis in nursing home patients, they could suffer serious health conditions. Nursing home staff members sometimes think a bedsore is just a rash that will go away, but once it turns into sepsis, the resident could suffer organ damage, as well as reduce blood flow to the brain, heart, and kidneys. Septic shock can occur if sepsis is not treated early enough, which can lead to a severe drop in blood pressure, cause blood clots, strokes, and even pulmonary embolisms.
Who Is Most At Risk For Developing Sepsis?
Any bedsore attorney will always ask the age of the nursing home resident who developed sepsis. Anyone over the age of 65 is most at risk of developing sepsis, as well as people who have chronic medical conditions and weakened immune systems. People with these characteristics often reside in nursing homes and similar assisted living facilities, so they are more at risk of developing bedsores and sepsis.
Negligent Nursing Homes Can Lead To Sepsis Development
It’s usually possible for nursing homes to prevent sepsis if they have good infection-control protocols in their facility. The problem is nursing homes often don’t have proper protocols, and if they do, staff members don’t follow them as they should. Negligence in providing a sanitary environment and appropriate care to prevent sepsis is often the basis of lawsuits a good bedsore attorney will use against nursing homes.
What To Do If Your Loved One Has Been Diagnosed With Sepsis
If your loved one has been diagnosed with sepsis at a nursing home, reach out to a bedsore attorney in Nassau County as soon as possible. Do your best to remember specific timelines about the sepsis development, including when your loved one might have first complained about pain, when you noticed something different about them, actions you observed from the nursing home staff, and more. Every bit of information you have will help your bedsore attorney put together a strong case against the nursing home. The bedsore attorney will decide whether specific information is relevant to the case or not, but your job is to provide them with everything you know.
Always Ask Questions To Nursing Home Staff Members
Never assume nursing home staff members are telling the truth. In addition to asking them general questions about your loved one’s condition, ask more specific questions. You need to know things like how often they get up to go to the bathroom, what their eating habits are, whether they get up and move around often, and more. Then when you visit your loved one, ask them the same questions to see if the responses match. Many times what a nursing home staff says and what they do are completely different, and this is all information your bedsore attorney will need to know when putting together a lawsuit.
Work With A Trustworthy Lawyer When Filing A Lawsuit
Filing a lawsuit against a nursing home is common, but the outcome isn’t always favorable for the residents and their loved ones. This is why it’s critical to work with a bedsore attorney with extensive experience in dealing with nursing homes. The experience is helpful because the bedsore attorney will know what to look for in nursing home practices and procedures and will ask staff members the hard questions they don’t want to answer.
Sinel & Olesen, PLLC has filed numerous lawsuits against nursing homes in the past and we are ready to put together a strong case for you. Your loved ones should never be neglected and develop preventable medical conditions as a result. You should also never ignore any warning signs that your loved one is suffering from being neglected. And if sepsis development is the result of neglect, then it could be time to pursue legal action. Be sure to contact us right away to receive a free case evaluation and learn the next steps to take.