It's been about a month since we lost my mil. She had a stroke and ended up getting an unbelievably terrible bed sore on her bottom. Ultimately, that is the thing that killed her and is listed on her death certificate. I have never seen anyone in such awful pain.

When she went in for the stroke, our local hospital transfered her to a larger hospital in the city. He care there was not good. They didn't turn her like they should of and this is where she got the bed sore. We were never told about it (so we don't know if they were treating he for it). We had her transfered back to our hometown hospital. They told us about the sore and started treatment on it. It was to late, it continued to get worse until the pain was so excrusiating that we had to make the decision to give her enough medication (morphine) to dull the pain and make it bareable, but inevitably would cause her death. No one should have to make these kind of choices.

Our concern: We don't want anyone to ever have to go through such a thing. We feel that the larger hospital caused this to happen to her by not moving her from side to side, like they did in our smaller hospital. She laid flat the entire time she was there (about 3 weeks). We didn't know any of this at the time, hindsite is 20/20, but it was their job to know and give her proper care.

What would you do in this situation?

bed sores are a fact of life for any hospital,lg or sm, or long term care facility. Dh's Great grandma got them and she was being cared for at home with a private nurse. we were on top of it from the beginning.

The liability will be very difficult to prove. How do u know she was never moved. Was mil's statement taken. If I thought I had a good case I would consider legal action. Just getting bed sores doesn't prove neligence.

Once again, I sorry for your loss.

allgirls

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allgirls, mom to 3 girls

Hindsight 20/20 can be a terrible thing! I am not sure what to do- I know that I have seen commercials for lawyers wanting to sue hospitals/nursing homes for these things so I know that people have lawsuits against them over this. I really don't know what advice I can give for this one- it is a toughie!

If you are bedridden, you should be turned every 2 hours. Even with that, if you are not mobile (can't walk), you would likely still get sores.


It's one of those things that you don't want people to get and you have precautions to try to avoid them.....but they can happen.

You can check with the hospital for a record of care, but I sort of doubt you can do a whole lot with it other than bring it to the directors attention.

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Mom to: Andrew-11, Megan- 9, Nathan-7, Nicholas-5 & Amanda-2
Married to Ken (by biggest child) for 14 years!

Do think it's common for this to happen in three weeks? Do you think they should have told the family she was having a medical problem? Shouldn't they have been treating them?

We're not looking for money. It's just that we feel that this shouldn't have happened. She didn't die from the stroke she had. It just seems like she died from not being properly cared for in the hospital.

I would not sue. You don't seem to be motivated by money, and reliving her death for years and years would only prevent your family having any closure and I'm sure it would be painful for all of you. Lawsuits really take it out of a family and it's hard for a "normal" family that aren't millionaires to be able to hire a lawyer with enough experience to successfully take on a huge hospital chain. (I'm assuming that your large city hospital was a chain, since most are these days...)

Here is where you can actually hurt them. First, write a complaint that tells everything. File it with the hospital. You need to find out the name of the CEO as well as the CNO, which is what most hospitals call their Chief Nursing Operator. If you aren't familar with huge hospitals, each of them have a suit-wearing nurse that hasn't actually practiced nursing in at least 20 years. Anyway - she/he is the ultimate head of nursing and only reports to the CEO. You need to copy this complaint to medicare (I'm assuming also that she was on medicare) and the insurance company that provides her co-insurance to medicare. The hospital is also credentialed by a "force" called JHACO, which is the joint commission on hospitals. They can't do anything without a Joint Commission review, which happens every two years. I would even send a copy to the local news stations (if you are willing to be on the news...) and local newspaper. Maybe more people will come forward and report that the same thing happened to them.

Ultimately, I feel like you are more of a "get-something-done" person and less of a lawsuit person. After years in hospital administration, I can tell you that would hit harder than a lawsuit, because the team in the hospital will actually have to work on it, whereas a lawsuit is just immediately passed of to the team of lawyers and the executives rarely hear about it. Let me know if you need anything.

I would sue. Not for the money, but its the only way the hospital will change.

If it's not documented then it wasn't done. Contact medical records and get her chart. They should have charted repositioning or refusal to do so (not that she refused but some patients do). JCAHO, hospital accreditor, has added skin decubs as a centinal event--if the hospital can't document that the patient had the bedsore prior to admitance than it happened at the hospital, and the hospital can be fined. I would call your state health department and ask who you should talk to. Yes it should be looked into and the hospital should be fined. I worked on a neuro/neurosurg floor for 2 years and we always turned our patients every 2 hours. We went as a group and made the turning rounds. Keep us posted.

Bedsores are not a fact of life in well-run facilities. I would sue, put info on the internet, report them to the proper boards and authorities and even talk to the media. I read a lot about these, and this should not have happened.

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