Failure to provide residents with treatment and services to prevent and heal pressure ulcers maybe considered providing a substandard quality of care and may result in the submission of false claims
Compliance Perspective – Neglect
Policies/Procedures: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Director of Nursing will review policies and procedures involving the documentation of pressure ulcers, wound care treatment services provided, and re positioning protocols.
Training: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Director of Nursing will ensure that staff are trained to provide wound care treatment services and accurately document to reflect that such services were performed.
Audit: The Compliance and Ethics Officer with the Director of Nursing should conduct an audit to confirm that the documented care occurred.
In 2015, after a two-week long stay, a woman was transferred from a New York hospital to a nursing home for follow-up wound care treatment for three superficial pressure ulcers. Instead of improving, the wounds worsened and became infected. She was transferred to an area wound care clinic and then admitted to the hospital for surgery.
During her time in the nursing home, the plaintiff’s attorneys claimed that she was never seen by a doctor. She was discharged from the hospital and now lives at home with her daughter. She continued to need wound care treatment for two more years. She still has a small, open wound, but is being cared for by her daughter.
One of the attorneys for the plaintiff expressed his belief that some nursing homes may be documenting pressure ulcers, but not really treating them.
The $1.25 million award by the jury is considered unusual by some because most lawsuits in the area settle before going to trial, and the amount of the settlement is usually kept private at the request of the nursing home. The jury awarded $475,000 for past pain and suffering, $300,000 for future pain and suffering, and an additional$475,000 for violating a state public health law requiring special protections for nursing home residents.
