Nursing Home Abuse Death Ruled Homicide

A 72-year-old resident of a Toledo, Ohio nursing home dies after developing sepsis from a pressure sore.  Pressure sores, or bedsores, are common injuries in nursing homes across the country, including here in Kentucky.  They are caused by the nursing home’s failure to turn patients from side to side on a steady rotation to prevent too much pressure on any specific area.  Typically, this is caused by nursing home understaffing, with too many patients for nurses to care for adequately.  Instead, nursing homes put profits over patients, saving the labor cost at the expense of those they are to care for. 

In the Toledo case, similar allegations are made, with the family alleging the facility and corporate parent directed staff to “do the impossible,” working longer hours and taking on more patients than they could care for.  They call it “a recipe for disaster,” as is the case at so many nursing homes.  Sepsis is a serious systemic infection in the bloodstream that can easily result in death.  Pressure ulcers are often on the coccyx and sacrum, getting contaminated with fecal and other bacteria.  This can cause infection and sepsis to set it. The condition of this resident was so bad, the coroner listed the cause of death “caretaker neglect resulting in complications of a sacral pressure wound,” and listed the manner of death homicide. 

If you or a loved one has suffered nursing home abuse or neglect, call the Poppe Law Firm at 502-895-3400.