New York Nursing Home Medical Malpractice

Nursing homes are very expenses places.  They can cost a significant amount of money each month just to house and provide basic care to a patient.  This is why when we place a loved one in a nursing home, we expect the care to be to the highest standard of care.  But this is unfortunately not always the case.  And the large problem with nursing homes is that sometimes the patients do not recognize they are being mistreated.  Given that most nursing home patients are elderly or very sick, they may not even be able to say something about their care.

That is why you need a strong advocate to protect your loved ones rights.  Nursing home medical malpractice can be horrible and really dangerous if not deadly.  There needs to be significant fact investigation to uncover errors to prove a victim’s case.  But there are some common types of nursing home mistakes and medical malpractice which can be used to litigate a matter.

One common type of nursing home medical malpractice claim is a pressure ulcer or pressure sore.  These are injuries to a victim’s tissue caused by the pressure, friction, and resistance of a bed against the body.  These sores can go very deep inside of a patient and cause serious and permanent injury.  The sores can also get infected and result in septic shock.  This can result in death.  Pressure sores or pressure ulcers are “never” events which generally demonstrate medical malpractice whenever they occur.

Another type of common medical malpractice from a nursing home is a fall.  Many patients are on fall watches to ensure that they are monitored to mitigate or avoid the risk of falls.  Some patients even need to have bed alarms which will sound if the patient attempts to get out of bed.  A fall risk patient could be due to a head injury causing dizziness or blurry vision which could easily cause a fall.  A fall can cause serious injuries and worse a condition.  Other times patients are too weak to hold their own weight up due to their balance or gait.  This too can result in falls.

Lastly, another obvious type of nursing home medical malpractice is a medication error.  Mistakes in prescribing medications, administering medications, or mixing up medications between patients is nursing home medical malpractice.  There could be serious drug interactions which could result in serious injury or death.