Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

Sixty-seven-year-old Melvin Raybon laid helpless in his bed at Tucker Nursing Center in Tucker, Ga., while a bedsore grew on his left buttocks and became infected to the bone, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Staff at the nursing home where he lived should have turned him every two hours to prevent the massive bedsore. However employees said there simply wasn’t enough staff to meet that need. Instead, the attorney representing Raybon’s daughter said he was turned about every four hours.

But the damage had been done. Even after Raybon had been stabilized by a hospital and then admitted to another nursing home, his health spiraled downward. He suffered from more bedsores and infections and died soon after.

Raybon’s daughter, Yolanda Latimore, repeatedly pleaded to management at Tucker Nursing Home to take better care of her father, to no avail. A DeKalb County jury found that Raybon’s months of suffering was unjust. After a four-year lawsuit, the jury awarded Raybon’s daughter $1.25 million. The defendants are expected to appeal the case, according to the story.

Bedsores, also known as pressure sores or decubitus ulcers, are a serious problem with patients who are bedridden. Nursing home patients are among the most susceptible. Bedsores form when skin and tissue break down from constant pressure and bad circulation. They occur most often in the hips, lower back and heels. At first, the skin becomes red and irritated and eventually open sores develop.

If left untreated, the open sores can bore down into the muscle and bone, known as decubitus ulcer formation. Treatment of serious decubitus ulcers may include drying out the wound, excising the dead tissue, and administering systemic antibiotics. To prevent the occurrence of bed sores, bedridden individuals must be moved every two hours to minimize rubbing, pressure and friction.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 25th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under News, Nursing Home Links. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.