Columbus Bedsores Attorneys

Bedsores, commonly known as pressure sores or decubitus ulcers, are a graphic sign of poor care by the staff at medical and other long-term care facilities. The development of bedsores is all too common throughout Ohio’s nursing homes, hospitals, and other assisted living facilities. If you think that a family member has developed bedsores while in another’s care, we invite you to contact the nursing home neglect attorneys at Rinehardt Injury Attorneys and let us fight for you. Our attorneys will fight hard to ensure that your loved one receives rightful compensation.

According to Mayo Clinic, bedsores are injuries to skin and underlying tissue resulting from prolonged pressure on the skin. Bedsores most often develop on skin around bony areas of the body such as the heels, ankles, hips, shoulder blades and spine, back of the head, and tailbone. Three primary contributing factors for bedsores are: pressure, friction, and shear.

• Constant pressure on any part of the body can lessen the blood flow to tissues, and blood flow is essential to delivering oxygen and other nutrients to tissues. Without these essential nutrients, skin and tissues die, causing a wound to develop. For people with limited mobility, this can happen in areas that aren’t well-padded with muscle or fat and that lie over a bone, such as the spine, tailbone, heels, etc.
• Friction occurs when the skin rubs against clothing or bedding, making skin more vulnerable to injury.
• Shear occurs when two surfaces move in the opposite direction. For example, when a bed is elevated at one end of the body, you can slide down in the bed. As the tailbone moves down, the skin over the bone may stay in place, pulling in the opposite direction.

Bedsores can develop extremely quickly (sometimes within two hours) and, likely, will heal with treatment, though some will never heal completely.