A staff that was reportedly “too busy” to help properly transfer a resident of the Harmony Nursing and Rehab Center in Chicago ended up sending him to the emergency room with a nasty contusion on his head as well as lacerations on his shoulder after a nursing home fall.
In order to combat bed sores, residents in nursing homes and hospitals need to be regularly shifted so that they don’t rest on the same parts of their body for more than a couple of hours at a time.
Bed sores, also known as “pressure ulcers” and “decubitus ulcers” are skin lesions and wounds caused, in part, by unrelieved pressure. There are other factors that contribute to bed sores including dehydration, improper nutrition, and failure to provide adequate toileting and clothing changes. While these factors are frequently present in greater or lesser form, unrelieved pressure is always a factor.
Rolling a fully grown adult on a bed is not nearly as simple as it sounds even when the person is partially mobile. This man was fully dependant on nursing home staff for all bed mobility.
Nursing home beds are not king, or even queen sized. In many cases, the resident or patient is almost as wide as the bed. The resident needs to be shifted as far as possible to one side of the bed and then rolled towards the other side where waiting staff support the resident and shift him or her back to the center of the bed.
Obviously, the staff on both sides of the bed need to be strong and capable or else the resident will roll completely off the bed. In this case, the stronger members of the Harmony Nursing and Rehab Center staff were reportedly “too busy” to assist the Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) attempting to move the resident, and the nursing home fall was a direct result.
If you have a loved one who has experienced numerous or damaging nursing home falls at Harmony Nursing and Rehab Center or any Illinois nursing home, and you feel they have been the victims of nursing home neglect, contact my law firm for a free and confidential evaluation of your case. At my law offices we never charge a fee unless we take, and win, your case.