Elderly Patients At Long Term Care Facility Have An Extremely High Rate of Pressure Sores and Bed Sores says Los Angeles Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorney Steven Peck

Written by Adam Peck Category: Elder Law January 26th, 2013 2 min read

Medicare patients at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Yonkers, N.Y., had the second-highest rate of severe bed sores in the country, according to an analysis of Medicare data between Oct. 1, 2008, and June 30, 2010, by the Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group on medical errors.

Medicare patients at St. Joseph’s suffered 13 instances of severe bed sores during their stay requiring additional treatment, a rate of nearly 2.9 per 1,000 treated, according to the report. At nearby St. John’s Riverside Hospital, the rate was 20 times lower: Only one severe bed sore was reported, even though the larger St. John’s discharged 8,270 Medicare patients during the period, compared with St. Joseph’s 4,541.

Bed sores–pressure ulcers–are one of the conditions that the federal government is increasingly unwilling to pay for. Earlier this month, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the Partnership for Patients, a new national effort that is meant to stop millions of preventable injuries and complications in patient care over the next three years. The federal agency said the initiative has the potential to save up to $35 billion in health care costs nationally, including up to $10 billion for Medicare.

The federal government is asking hospitals to focus on nine types of medical errors and complications where the potential for dramatic reductions in harm rates has already been documented. They include pressure ulcers, as well as preventing adverse drug reactions, childbirth complications and surgical site infections.

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Written by Adam Peck

Expertise: Personal Injury

Adam J. Peck, ESQ is a principal with Peck Law Group, APC. In 2008, Mr. Adam Peck received his Juris Doctorate from Whittier Law School where he graduated Cum Laude. His practice is primarily dedicated to representing Elders, Dependent Adults, along with their loved ones and family members, who have suffered horrific personal injuries.