After spending the last four years pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit against a nursing home in Illinois, a woman’s family will finally be compensated for their pain and suffering.
The woman’s family argued that the patient’s nursing home was responsible for her death because staff failed to take measures to prevent the patient from developing pressure sores. When the patient did develop pressure sores, the family claims that staff then failed to properly treat the sores. These injuries then caused further health problems, and the nursing home resident died.
Pressure sores may occur when nursing home residents or hospital patients stay in one position for too long. To prevent bed sores and pressure ulcers, hospital workers and nursing home staff must make sure patients move around on their own or receive assistance moving around. When patients are in one position for too long, their skin may become damaged from a lack of blood flow to their tissues. Patients who are confined to beds and wheelchairs are at a high risk of developing bed sores when they are neglected in hospitals and nursing homes.
Bed sores can be treated when detected right away. But when pressure sores go untreated, patients may develop serious health complications, which could then lead to fatal injuries.
The family who has been pursuing a wrongful death lawsuit against a nursing home in Illinois over the past four years claimed that the nursing home failed to properly take care of their loved one who had been confined to a wheelchair. The patient developed pressure sores and the sores went untreated. The woman died from complications that were caused by the sores in 2007.
Although the county-owned nursing home claims that its workers were not negligent, Winnebago County has allegedly agreed to finally settle the family’s wrongful death claim. According to reports, Winnebago County has agreed to settle the claim for $20,000.
Source: Rockford Register Star, “Winnebago County to settle wrongful death suit,” Kevin Haas, Jan. 25, 2013
