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UNTREATED DECUBITUS ULCER (BED SORE) CAUSES SEPSIS AND THEN DEATH
[ reference: MedQuest/Curbside Counsel/http://www.medquestltd.com/07-17-2014 ]
In summary, the patient was an elderly man with a past medical history of spinal stenosis, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, hyperlipidemia, chronic low back pain, hypothyroidism, heart murmur and macular degeneration. He was admitted to a nursing home rehab center in March after a brief hospitalization that determined back surgery would not be appropriate. The center's
admission notes revealed that he was alert and oriented and the plan was short term rehabilitation and then a return home with support services.
The patient died about 3 days short of a month later. On the death certificate the immediate cause of death was listed as respiratory failure of 20 minutes duration, cardiac arrest of 15 minutes, with an underlying cause of death as decubitus ulcer (bed sore) of one month duration, and pneumonia of four days duration.
QUESTIONS: Was the nursing home/center negligent ? If so, was there a causal connection between the nursing home's negligence and the patient's death ?
ANSWERS : Yes. And yes. Based on the information presented, infra, the nursing home's care of this patient was substandard. Allowing this elderly patient to remain in a seated/lying position without turning and repositioning him was a deviation from the acceptable standard of care.
[This information presented in this blog is not intended nor designed to be legal advice nor medical advice]
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