ICU Neglect and Your Rights: A Hospital Bedsore Lawyer Case Study
Key Takeaways:
- High-Risk ICU Neglect: Sedated, intubated, and completely immobilized ventilator patients require strict skin assessments that this hospital entirely failed to perform.
- Active Concealment: Facility nurses failed to follow medical positioning orders and actively hid the worsening condition of the deep pressure wound from the patient’s family.
- Admitted Liability: Due to undeniable evidence of systemic charting failures and neglect, the hospital admitted full liability, leading to a successful resolution at early mediation.
How a Hospital Bedsore Lawyer Proves ICU Medical Malpractice
Our client went to the hospital with shortness of breath and pneumonia where he was intubated, placed on a ventilator, and admitted to the ICU. He was at very high risk of developing a bedsore (or pressure ulcer) due to his immobility and the severity of his illness. No pressure ulcer risk assessment was performed, and no interventions were implemented to prevent him from developing a bedsore as he laid in bed day after day in the same position. A week after admission, our client was noted to have a pressure ulcer.
Orders were entered but not followed, and the wound worsened, but nurses never informed him or his wife. When facing a systemic failure of care like this, families often seek answers from a qualified hospital bedsore lawyer to audit the medical charting. When he was discharged to another facility took photographs, documented the wound, and showed the client and his wife. We initiated a claim, and the hospital admitted liability because it knew the nurses’ behavior was not appropriate.
The claim resolved at an early mediation without ever needing to be litigated, which is extraordinarily rare in medical malpractice cases. If your loved one developed severe wounds due to inadequate ICU care, a dedicated hospital bedsore lawyer at Warner & Warner can help you uncover the truth and hold the facility accountable.