When you arrived at the emergency room moments after the paramedics, you headed straight for the doctor on duty. When he told you your mother was suffering from a “Stage Four Pressure Ulcer,” you were confused. You knew aides at the nursing facility were treating her for a bedsore. Then you remembered she had been delirious the night before. You were stunned to think a simple bedsore could cause someone to be delirious.
“Is the bedsore like a strawberry a ballplayer gets when sliding on the ground?” you asked. The doctor was almost curt with his response, “Not even close…”
Want to learn more about the legal consequences of a “Stage Four Pressure Ulcer?” Need to arm yourself with information based on actual occurrences of nursing care neglect? Then take a minute to read on via the website of the Klemick & Gampel Law Firm. In cases of elder care neglect, our attorneys pin down insurance companies and nursing home management responsible for patient neglect. We’ll build a solid case packed with testimony and facts that will hold those at fault to be held legally responsible. In turn, we will fight for a financial recovery for your family so the memory of your loved one isn’t tarnished by her final days of suffering – all at the hands of lazy, careless, negligent employees whose duty it was to protect your mother, not ignore her pain and suffering while she lay alone at night summoning a nurse who never answered her call alarm. Don’t let this happen to your loved one. Call us now at 305.856.4577.
…As the physician led you to your mother’s bedside, he said, “Prepare yourself, this is graphic.” When nurses placed their hands on your mother’s shoulder and back to roll her to her side, she began screaming. The nurse fumbled for a needle to inject morphine into her to stop the agony. You were now staring at a “Stage Four Pressure Sore” – what would ultimately kill your mother. The black decaying hole in her thigh was so big you could have placed a softball in it. Now you understand why your mother was delirious and screaming. Palliative care and a morphine pump would ease her pain for the next few days until she would die of sepsis, a severe infection of the blood.
Nursing facility aides are bound by the law to “turn” a patient who is unable to move on his or her own. This movement prevents the patient from lying still in one position. Cushioned boots should be put on their feet so the pressure from the mattress doesn’t rub the skin away to the bone. The same is true of elbows.
Bedsores are preventable as is malnutrition and dehydration. Elderly loved ones with dementia are as dependent as a baby. Yet these patients lie there and suffer, mentally and physically. Imagine the depression one must feel when they are left alone. Aging and senility are natural. These other conditions are not. Patients won’t “report” it because they live in fear. In some cases, patients are pinched and bruised from physical abuse. This is torture. And believe us, it’s punishable in court.
If you’ve documented situations of neglect with your loved one in a nursing home, this will help us. Let Klemick & Gampel represent you. We fight stubborn insurance companies whose culprit clients commit these crimes behind the window dressing of gaudy wallpaper, chandeliered dining rooms and food with industrial odors.
And there are other worries that plague elder care. Was medication dispensed correctly and timely? Was food and water brought to a resident who is not ambulatory? Was a resident bathed? Was a resident with dementia periodically checked by an aide? Did a physician visit the facility regularly to see a patient? Was a physical therapist on duty? Did a patient get walked? If you have unsatisfactory answers to these questions about a loved one, call us right now. There is a reason nursing facilities offer “Assisted Living” and “Health-Care Unit” wards. It’s because residents there are helpless.
It’s bad enough to watch it on Sixty Minutes but when it’s your loved one, it’s unbearable. After the funeral, your loved one’s wishes are moot. But what are you going to do? Start by contacting Klemick & Gampel, where “We work for you.” Those responsible should pay. Would you want another resident to endure the same torment? You can prevent it by taking action with K&G as your legal guide.
Think of those that lay alone, waiting for a bedpan, a fresh cup of water or to be turned while aides sit in a staff lounge. Your loved one couldn’t call you when a staff member ignored the call alarm. There’s a good chance your mom forgot your number. More likely, the call alarm went unanswered, if it worked at all.
Have you walked by a nurse’s station and listened to the nonstop chiming of patient call alarms? Have you gingerly walked the halls and counted the minutes before you even see a staffer? These occurrences exist and those responsible should be held accountable!
Three years ago in Northern Virginia, an Alzheimer’s patient simply walked out of a nursing home to be found a day later, four miles away, wandering. At another facility in Northern Virginia, residents summoned the fire department when staffers at their residence ignored their calls. Firefighters responded to find on-duty personnel asleep. They were fired and administrative changes were made on the spot. In Miami, K&G represented a lady who wandered the halls with her walker who was allowed to open a stairway door and then fall down the stairs.
Disheartened and sickened by all this? Then take action now to stop this negligence and abuse. Call and speak to one of our attorneys at Klemick & Gampel at 305.856.4577. It’s the right thing to do. Let us fight for you!
Contact Us Today
Klemick & Gampel
1953 S.W. 27th Avenue
Miami, FL 33145
Phone: (305) 856-4577
Fax: (305) 859-9708
