Broward Injury Lawyer Blog
Florida wrongful death cases involving nursing home patients is often the result of sepsis, a blood infection that can stem from untreated bedsores – among other signs of abject nursing home neglect. That’s according to a recent analysis reported by Kaiser Health News, which took note that nursing home resident hospitalizations for sepsis-related care ending in death were much more common than those for other conditions. Nursing home wrongful death attorneys in Fort Lauderdale recognize that while no one is nationally tracking how often these infections turn fatal, one recent federal report by Definitive Health Care revealed care related to sepsis was the No. 1 reason given for transfers of nursing home residents to hospitals. 
Many Fort Lauderdale wrongful death lawsuits stem from the fact that year after year, nursing homes are failing to prevent bedsores and other sorts of infections known to lead to sepsis. These patients endure, painful, stressful hospital treatments for sepsis, with injury and wrongful death attorneys often arguing it should never have happened in the first place.
The analysis examined data related to nursing home residents who were transferred to hospitals and later died. Of those, roughly 25,000 suffered from sepsis (among other conditions), costing medicare some $2 billion a year (based on four-years’ worth of information). Of those who suffered from sepsis, 1 in 5 did not survive. The scope of such a public health problem, researchers say, is “enormous.” Just a single sepsis-related hospital stay at the end of one nursing home patient’s life cost more than $400,000. Continue reading
