New York City Nursing Home Neglect Lawsuit Results in $19M Award
A New York City jury has awarded almost $19 million to the family of a 76-year-old nursing home patient that the family says developed more than 20 bedsores due to nursing home neglect.
The New York nursing home lawsuit was filed by the family of John Danzy against the Brooklyn Queens Nursing Home. Danzy died in 2003 of an infection allegedly caused by the nursing home bedsores, six months after he was removed from the facility.
The verdict, which included $15 million in punitive damages, was the first in New York state history to result in punitive damages against a nursing home, according to the New York Post. The award also included $3.75 million in compensatory damages.
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Learn MoreThe lawsuit accused the nursing home of falsifying records to make it appear that they had been taking proper care of Danzy. An FBI expert witness said that it appeared that nursing home staff went back into the records and changed skincheck logs to make it look like they had found the bedsores.
Bedsores, also known as pressure sores or decubitus ulcers, occur as a result of a lack of blood flow to an area of the skin caused by prolonged pressure on one area of the body. They most often develop in places with prominent bones beneath thin layers of skin, such as the heels, elbows and tailbone. Pressure sores often afflict nursing home residents and hospital patients with limited mobility who have trouble, or are unable, to move independently.
Most medical organizations consider nursing home bed sores to be a preventable condition that are easily treated if detected early through proper diligence on the part of medical staff and care providers. Failure to prevent, identify, or properly treat bedsores can result in life-threatening infections that enter the bloodstream, known as sepsis.
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2 Comments
DianeJanuary 4, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Unfortunately, this is a common problem. Nursing homes very often have extremely poor staffing and it is impossible with the staffing that they have to perform the duties that are needed to prevent these types of complications. And people going into nursing homes are sicker now than they used to be. Plus, due to the lack of pay and poor staffing many nursing homes cannot find good quality staff[Show More]Unfortunately, this is a common problem. Nursing homes very often have extremely poor staffing and it is impossible with the staffing that they have to perform the duties that are needed to prevent these types of complications. And people going into nursing homes are sicker now than they used to be. Plus, due to the lack of pay and poor staffing many nursing homes cannot find good quality staff. It is very sad. In our area (just outside Seattle) we have a number of adult family homes that are run privately who care for only a few people at a time and they are well cared for. But they don't care of patients that are as ill as some of those in a nursing home. Nursing home patients are hard to care for. Many have dementia. They won't eat, can't swallow, can't take their pills, etc. The staff often do the best they can, but due to the staffing standards they have, it if often not enough. Until profit becomes secondary to care, this will never change.
amiJanuary 1, 2010 at 8:20 pm
not all decubiti are from pressure, and there is a particular one called "Kennedy terminal ulcer" i suggest you look it up.