On July 7, 2023, after a five-day trial and three and a half hours of jury deliberations, a Virginia medical malpractice jury returned its verdict in favor of the defendants in a Virginia medical malpractice case in which the plaintiff alleged that the defendants negligently failed to prevent a nursing home resident from developing pressure ulcers that ultimately took her life.
The 83-year-old nursing home resident was admitted to a hospital and then discharged to the defendant nursing home in 2016, following a decline in her mental and physical conditions. While a resident at the nursing home, she allegedly developed a sacral pressure ulcer. During a subsequent five-day admission to the hospital for unrelated conditions, the woman’s sacral pressure ulcer allegedly worsened, after which she was readmitted to the defendant nursing home.
The resident was transferred back and forth between the hospital and the defendant nursing home many times from September 2016 to December 2017. After her discharge from the hospital in December 2017 to another nursing home, she was readmitted to the hospital on multiple occasions. The woman died at the second nursing home (which was not a defendant) on June 13, 2018.
The plaintiff reportedly alleged that the defendants negligently failed to turn and reposition the woman every two hours, negligently failed to reposition the woman when she was in a chair, negligently failed to provide adequate nutrition to the woman, negligently failed to provide adequate pressure relief to her heels, negligently failed to provide the woman a special mattress to relieve pressure on her body, negligently failed to provide proper catheter care, and negligently allowed the woman to develop c-diff.
The Virginia nursing home malpractice jury heard testimony from three experts on behalf of the plaintiff and five experts on behalf of the defendants. The jury decided in favor of the defendants on both the wrongful death claim and the survival claim.
Pressure ulcer negligence claims against nursing homes may involve claims that the nursing home’s negligence led to the development of pressure ulcers, and/or the nursing home failed to timely and properly treat pressure ulcers, leading to harm.
If you or a loved one may have been injured as a result of medical malpractice in a nursing home in Virginia or in another U.S. state due to nursing home pressure ulcer (nursing home bedsore) negligence, a nursing home infection, nursing home fall, nursing home aspiration, nursing home neglect, nursing home negligence, nursing home abuse, nursing home understaffing, or the nursing home failing to properly care for a vulnerable adult, you should promptly find a Virginia medical malpractice lawyer, or a medical malpractice lawyer in your state, who may investigate your nursing home medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a nursing home medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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