A nursing home negligence lawsuit has been filed against Highland Health Care Center and its parent company Covenant Care Midwest for their negligent care of a patient. The lawsuit alleges that the patient was admitted to Highland Health Care Center on November 5, 2008 for physical therapy, following a total knee replacement surgery.
During the course of the prescribed physical therapy, the patient developed decubitus ulcers on his back and heel. The decubitus ulcers became so severe that surgery was required to help heal the wounds.
The nursing home negligence lawsuit claims Highland Health Care Center made numerous mistakes related to the patient’s care and subsequent decubitus uclers, including:
- Failing to notify physicians of the patient’s change in medical condition
- Failing to administer treatments prescribed by the physician
- Failing to make observations related to the patient’s change in medical condition
- Failing to implement a pressure sore prevention program
The lawsuit is pending in Madison County Circuit Court. Read more about this nursing home lawsuit here.
In with one problem, out with another…
While I certainly have no way of verifying the facts surrounding this nursing home lawsuit, the facts sound all too familiar. In cases were nursing homes, hospitals rehabilitation facilities are hyper focused on a specific task, such as physical therapy, other patient needs can often fall to the wayside.
Nonetheless, skilled nursing facilities have a non-delegable duty to take all feasible measure to prevent development of decubitus ulcers. In this case, I have a hard time believing that if the facility was indeed performing the specified physical therapy on this patient. If so, how did the decubitus ulcers develop?
Covenant Care
Covenant Care operates 50 facilities (skilled nursing, assisted living and select therapies) in California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nevada, Nebraska and Ohio.
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