Author Archives: Adam Peck

Elder Abuse & Neglect

Decubitus Ulcer / Pressure Ulcer / Bed Sore Cases:

• Failure to follow policies and procedures:

• The policies and procedures from an acute care facility often provide a wealth of information. Make the effort and take the time to fully familiarize yourself with the hospital’s policies and procedures regarding patient care, skin care, wound prevention and wound care, lift teams, beds and mattresses and any other policies which may affect the care that was provided to your client.
• In depositions, we ask each nurse, wound nurse and supervisor about his or her familiarity with the policies and procedures. We diligently search through the medical records carefully to find the violations and check the skin protocol to determine why the skin has broken down and caused the pressure ulcers and bedsores.
• It is quite likely that the care provided to your client grossly failed to meet the hospital’s own policies and procedures on numerous occasions, and, in fact, the care providers were not even familiar with the policies and procedures.
• Regularly, nurses fail to request a consultation when it is required; skin assessments are not completed on a regular basis; wounds are not cared for as required by the policies and procedures; and charting is wholly inadequate pursuant to the policies.
• Had the hospital followed its own policies, the injury most likely would not have occurred.

Failure to follow policies and procedures and failure to insure that the nursing staff is familiar with the policies and procedures constitutes recklessness, in that the individuals involved knew that there was a high probability that this conduct would cause harm and knowingly disregarded this risk