Injury: Sacral (lower back) bed sore aquired in hospital and requiring colostomy for a 25 year old paraplegic patient in a New Jersey Hospital
Age of Patient at Injury: 25 years of age
Result: $488,000 Settlement
Court: Camden County, NJ
Comments: Stage 4 bed sore (Hospitals like to call them “decubitus ulcers” because it sounds nicer) aquired by a patient who, a life-long paraplegic, was unable to turn himself in his own bed every 2 hours to prevent this “never event”. Completely absent from the patient’s chart was any nursing documentation that our client received proper care. As a result of the location of this injury and our client’s condition, he was required to have a colostomy, which he will have for life and which has impinged significantly upon his dignity. Part of the actual defense in this case was that our client was not harmed because he could not feel the bed sore. We hope that by bringing this matter, better documentation and more significantly, better care will be provided to patients in the future.