NY Nursing Home Abuse Lawyers Discuss Current Crises: Untreated Bedsores & Questionable Evictions
Too many older Americans struggle daily with poorly trained nursing home employees who are often in short supply explains Arkady Frekhtman, one of the NY nursing home abuse lawyers at the F&A injury law firm. These substandard patient-staff ratios often lead to seniors suffering from excessive falls and untreated bedsores (pressure ulcers). Arguably even more alarming are the growing number of nursing homes that are now trying to evict patients they no longer consider to be adequately profitable.
Fortunately, ongoing investigations in many states are now shining a light on these problems. The New York Times is among the more responsible newspapers that regularly report on these issues, trying to raise public awareness that will force government regulators to take more decisive action on behalf of seniors.
The following information provides a snapshot of the specific challenges some seniors now face as they try to fight off unjustified evictions – or seek proper care for pressure ulcers (bedsores) (and other maladies) that so often afflict many who are bedridden due to various conditions.
Evicting Disabled and Elderly Patients – Actual Cases Can Have Frightening Overtones
- Allegedly wrongful discharges can lead to lawsuits. Imagine how 59-year-old Deborah Zwaschka-Blansfield must have felt when her nursing home informed her just six weeks after the lower half of one of her legs was amputated, that she had to move out. She was told that since her insurance would no longer be covering her expenses, she had to leave.
Naturally, Ms. Zwaschka-Blansfield was frightened when told she would have to either move to a homeless shelter or pay money for a motel room. She reasonably worried that something terrible could happen to her in one of those settings, especially if she fell. After all, she was still learning how to navigate in her wheelchair now that her lower left leg was missing. No human being should ever have to face such circumstances. She is currently suing for wrongful discharge – even though her nursing home in Sacramento, California claims that it followed all regulations applicable to her departure; and
- Fifty-eight-year-old Alan Schoen faced similar indifference from his nursing home. As a patient struggling with MS (multiple sclerosis), Mr. Schoen was discharged after additional medical problems developed in conjunction with a trip to the hospital. He is no longer able to stand or walk and has fallen out of his bed. He, too, is appealing what he believes was a wrongful discharge – possibly related to his higher-paying Medicare coverage ending.
They are just two of the many Americans coping with the gross indifference some nursing homes display to highly vulnerable patients. What’s even worse is that there are government officials who want to make it even harder for sick patients like these to sue the nursing homes that tried to discard them.
All these patients can do is follow the advice of morally correct and sympathetic parties who have created guidelines for those being threatened with nursing home evictions.
Besides helping nursing home patients facing eviction, society must also make sure all current residents receive proper care for such basic problems as bedsores.
Proactively Helping Residents Obtain Proper Care for Their Pressure Ulcers
When today’s nursing home patients aren’t having to fear that they might be evicted, they’re often having to cope with the daily pain of poorly treated or neglected bedsores (also referred to as pressure ulcers). Some experts place the percentage of nursing home patients battling this affliction between 10% (in older studies) — all the way up to nearly 30% in more recent ones, depending on the precise status of each patient’s condition.
If you know or regularly visit someone who frequently suffers from bedsores, be sure they’re receiving the following type of basic, daily care.
- Patients with pressure ulcers must be carefully examined at least every two hours – to be sure all their skin areas are fully clean and dry;
- These patients need to make proper use of different bed pillows (in and around various body parts) so they can relieve unnecessary pressure; and
- They must also shift positions in their beds or chairs every two hours to relieve pressure on different skin surfaces.
Our firm recognizes that nursing home patients suffer a great many other problems due to substandard or negligent nursing home care. We are open to speaking with you about any type of abuse or neglect you believe you’ve suffered at the hands of nursing home staff members.
If you or a loved one believe you are currently receiving negligent nursing home care – or have good reason to believe you have been wrongfully discharged – be sure to immediately contact your New York City personal injury attorney. We can carefully examine the facts of your case to see if we should file a lawsuit that will help you recover financial damages for all the losses you have suffered.