The Cambridge Nursing and Rehab Center located in Skokie, Illinois has been fined for nursing home neglect because of their negligence in caring for bedsores. In their care, a resident developed new bedsores that were subsequently ignored by the staff.
A second resident was provided with a mattress designed to improve bedsore treatment, but the staff failed to use the mattress correctly, and her bedsore dramatically increased in size.
Regular readers of this blog might believe that pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores, are simply unavoidable. That isn’t the case. Many nursing homes in Illinois and around the world avoid bedsores by merely obeying state and federal regulations in regard to their treatment.
Poor hydration and nutrition, constant damp conditions, and being left for long periods without adjustment cause bedsores. It’s not hard to see that bedsores don’t develop by chance or accident. They develop due to a culture of neglect.
When residents are left in wet underclothes while sitting in a chair for hours every day, for example, it’s hard to imagine that proper nutritional care is being considered.
The nursing home report developed by the Illinois Department of Health and Human Services makes it clear that the pressure sores (bedsores) that developed at the Cambridge Nursing and Rehab Center in Skokie, Illinois were completely avoidable with proper care.
The first resident was observed being placed in his wheelchair at 10:15 AM by Cambridge Nursing and Rehab Center staff and not being returned to his bed until almost 3:00 PM. That is 5 hours of constant pressure. When he was returned to his bed, he was unable to reposition himself. Two new open pressure ulcers were observed just days after the Assistant Director of Nursing of the Cambridge Nursing and Rehab Center declared him cured.
A second resident was given an air mattress designed to assist in the healing of bedsores, but the staff was untrained in its proper use. The size of her bedsore increased 500% in a one week period, and yet no documentation existed that addressed the progression.
If you have a loved one who has developed a bedsore at the Cambridge Nursing and Rehab Center or any other Illinois nursing home, and you feel they were the victims of nursing home neglect, contact my law offices for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. Remember, we never charge a fee unless we take, and win, your case.