Rochester Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
If you or someone close to you has suffered bedsores due to the negligence of a nursing home or hospital, you may be entitled to compensation through a medical malpractice claim. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, our Rochester medical malpractice attorneys can guide you through the legal process and help you resolve your case in an efficient and effective manner.
A bedsore is a painful, often reddened area of degenerating, ulcerated skin caused by pressure from lying in bed in one position for a prolonged period of time. Stage 1 bedsores may involve redness of the skin, bruising, or discoloration. Stage 2 bedsores involve broken skin where the top skin layers die off, creating a shallow crater and risk of infection. Stage 3 bedsores affect the deeper tissue under the skin, including the fat layer. They appear to be like craters and may have pus-like drainage. Stage 4 bedsores are the most serious and affect the skin and layers of tissue down to the muscle and bone. At this stage, serious bruising and drainage may be present.
Unfortunately, bedsores are more common than you may think. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 2.5 million individuals suffered from bedsores in 2011. The CDC also estimates that bedsores affect the health of nearly 1 million adults throughout the country each year. The mortality rate among people with stage 4 bedsores is high, with almost 70 percent of people diagnosed with stage 4 bedsores dying within 180 days.
Bedsores are serious medical conditions, and stage 4 bedsores are extremely dangerous. Bedsores are an important measure of the quality of care in hospital and nursing home settings. Medical professionals caring for patients with low or no mobility are trained to watch for signs of bedsores. In fact, this is a basic minimum standard of care. As a result, stage IV bedsores are clear evidence of negligence, which can give rise to a medical malpractice claim.
Under New York law, medical malpractice is defined as any act or omission by a physician during the treatment of a patient that deviates from accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes an injury to the patient. In order to establish medical malpractice, the plaintiff must show the following: i) the medical professional owed them a duty of care (this can be done by showing a doctor/patient relationship existed); ii) the medical professional breached the duty of care owed to the patient; and iii) the medical professional’s breach was a direct cause of the patient’s injury.
Stage 4 bedsores are almost always caused by negligence on the part of a nursing home or hospital. At DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers, our dedicated Rochester medical malpractice attorneys can aggressively advocate for your rights and hold negligent parties accountable for the harm that they have caused. We understand how upsetting and stressful it can be to deal with bedsores, let alone stage 4 bedsores, which is why we will handle your case with the utmost compassion. To explore your rights, call us at 315-479-9000, or you can reach us online.
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