Common Nursing Home Injury Claims

Nursing home injuries can be fatal. For those residents who survive, one of these injuries can begin an irreversible decline and significantly reduce the victim’s quality of life. Fortunately, an experienced nursing home injury attorney can help you determine if your loved one’s injuries were the inevitable result of aging or if they were caused by nursing home negligence.

Types of Nursing Home Injury Claims

Nursing home injuries are a type of personal injury claim. The following examples list injuries that can result in nursing home injury lawsuits:

Falls

The elderly have an elevated risk of falling. However, nursing home residents are injured and killed in falls at a much higher rate than other seniors. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nursing home residents fall at twice the rate of those who live in the community. Morevoer, 35% of those fall injuries occur among nursing home residents who cannot walk.

Nursing home negligence frequently results in falls. Examples include:

• Failure to assess resident for fall risk and respond appropriately
• Failure to provide assistance with walking and transferring
• Malnutrition and dehydration
• Medication errors
• Inadequate supervision

Bedsores

Bedsores are very dangerous and very painful. Once a bedsore gets started it is difficult to treat and can lead to a fatal infection. Nursing home negligence often causes bedsores. Examples include:

• Failure to frequently turn an immobile patient
• Moisture as a result of failing to change bedding in a timely fashion
• Other failure to provide adequate hygiene
• Dehydration and malnutrition

Read about preventing bedsores in nursing home residents.

Malnutrition and Dehydration

Dehydration and malnutrition also frequenly occurs in nursing homes. Accordingly, nursing homes have a duty to assess residents and address their needs – including nutrition and hydration. Nursing homes can satisfy this duty by providing more assistance with eating and drinking. In addition, nursing homes may implement a more in-depth approach to handle underlying problems such as dental problems and difficulty swallowing. Dehydration and malnutrition can lead to numerous problems that may not seem related, including:

• Cognitive decline
• Weakness
• Falls
• Bed sores and infections
• Lowered immunity
• Poor wound healing
• Pneumonia
• Urinary tract infections
• Organ damage

AccidentAttorneys.org works with the attorneys who other lawyers respect and recommend. If someone you love has one of the above-described nursing home injury claims, let us help you find an excellent local nursing home neglect attorney today.