Can Bedsore Lawsuit Settlement Stop Care Center Abuse?

Newburg, ORHaving to place your loved ones in a long-term care center is often sad and stressful, but Care Center Abuse is unthinkable. Unfortunately, elderly abuse is not uncommon and sometimes it takes a care center abuse lawsuit to stop such violations.

“My father’s health went downhill fast after my sister and I placed him at the Health & Rehabilitation Care Center in our town” says Jeff, choking back his tears. “Not a day goes by when I don’t feel guilty for leaving him there.” It’s normal for family members to blame themselves for selecting a “wrong” care home. But Jeff can find some comfort in knowing that there are state and federal laws to ensure that proper care is provided, and if not, a care center abuse lawyer can help to ensure that patients are getting proper care.

Jeff says his father was neglected for hours at a time and suffered from bed sores and dehydration. “This Care Center is either understaffed or the employees just don’t seem to care,” he explains. “My father told me that no one responds when he hits the button, so one day during a visit, I hit the button and he was right - it took more than an hour for someone to come by.”

Because Jeff’s father has congestive heart failure and cannot walk by himself, he has to get assistance to the bathroom. “His elderly roommate had to walk my dad to the bathroom and then it took forever for someone to come back and help him to his bed,” Jeff says. “Another time an orderly was on the phone in the evening chatting with someone and wouldn't even come to the desk to answer my question. He looked right at me and still didn't talk with us or tell us he would be with us shortly. After waiting for more than 10 minutes we just went to my father’s room and still no one came to see what we needed.”

Selecting the right nursing home to care for your loved one is typically an extremely difficult decision, particularly when you are putting trust in the care center staff and believe the facility’s conditions are sanitary, at the very least. In January 2013, a nursing home negligence lawsuit was settled after the family of a 77-year-old woman was admitted to Evergreen Health Care Center in Chicago. Her family found her covered in bed sores.

The elderly woman had suffered a stroke so she was completely dependent upon the staff at the facility for her care. On numerous occasions the family had noticed soiled bed linens, and one family member noticed that their grandmother hadn’t been “changed” for hours and wasn’t turned - she was always in the same position. Another time the family noticed that her feeding tube had loosened from the machine.

More troubling is that this particular center almost had its license revoked in 2010 for multiple health code violations and patient neglect. It took a Care Center Abuse lawsuit for any changes to be made. After Evergreen Health Care reportedly settled with the family for $575,000, it was placed under new management and a number of registered nurses were hired. Granddaughter Vania Beard said that “A nursing home has an obligation to report certain conditions… The state is supposed to investigate complaints from hospitals, family members and law enforcement agencies and post those results on the web. I didn’t do my research.”

Vania’s grandmother died four months after entering the center, with bed sores covering her entire body. Jeff has filed a negligence claim and is also in the process of finding another home for his father.