Super Lawyers
Justia Lawyer Rating for Ronald V. Miller Jr.
Best Law Firms
Avvo Rating - 10
Million Dollar Advocates Forum
Litigator Awards

Annapolis Wrongful Death Bed Sore Lawsuit | Nursing Home Lawyers

Valley v. New Annapolis Nursing LLC.

(Filed January 10, 2017)

nursinghomelawsuit This is a nursing home wrongful death bedsore case filed on behalf of a woman in Anne Arundel County. This was filed in Maryland Health Claims on January 10th. It is the first nursing home lawsuit it filed in 2017 (11th medical malpractice case filed).

Summary of Plaintiff's Allegations

After suffering a stroke, a woman moves into FutureCare, a nursing and rehabilitation center, in Baltimore, Maryland. She lives there for about six months.

She is transferred to defendant's facility, where defendant physician is responsible for her care. At the time of admission, the woman has a rash on her sacral and perineal areas. Defendant physician orders a medication for her, which is used to treat fungal infections on the skin. Despite this, decedent does not have any pressure ulcers. Defendant physician orders that decedent is repositioned every two hours.

The decedent is fully dependent on defendant's staff for turning and repositioning. However, she is not turned as ordered by defendant physician. Within two weeks, she develops two pressure ulcers in her sacral area. At this point, defendant physician re-emphasizes that the decedent needs to be turned and repositioned to her wound care team.

After a little more than a month, woman's pressure ulcers completely heal, and her wound care treatment is discontinued. Pressure ulcer prevention methods, such as turning, are still required according to defendant physician's orders. However, once again, these orders are not followed. Within three months, the staff finds an open area on decedent's buttock, and pressure ulcer management is initiated again. This wound is closed and healed within a few weeks. Ulcer prevention measures are still required after this point.

To no surprise at this point, the woman is not properly turned and repositioned. She develops a large, 7.5 cm x 8.5 cm, sacral pressure ulcer. It is not discovered until it had progressed to the point where 60% of it was covered with necrotic tissue, making it unstageable. It was two centimeters deep. This wound continues to worsen, and the patient continues to not receive proper turning or repositioning.

She undergoes surgical debridements of her wound. During surgery, they discover that the wound site extended below the surface of her skin, in the subcutaneous tissue. Due to the alleged failure to treat or recognize the ulcer, it becomes severely infected and decedent develops extreme fevers. She is transferred from NMS Healthcare to Anne Arundel Medical Center in unstable condition a month and a half after her surgeries.

When decedent arrives at the hospital, she is septic due to the infected pressure ulcer. Her bone has become infected, and she is diagnosed with osteomyelitis. She tests positive for C-diff, due to bacteria overgrowth harming her intestines. The staff at AAMC concludes that there are no ways to alleviate or fix the woman's wounds since they had progressed so far without any treatment. The decedent is transferred to hospice care for a few weeks. She is then transferred back to FutureCare, where she dies a few weeks later.

Her family files this claim on her behalf, arguing that if she had been treated within the applicable standard of care, that she would not have developed pressure ulcers, and would have lived.

Additional Comments
  • NMS Healthcare has big problems.
  • We handle many malpractice cases where a good doctor makes a single foolish mistake that badly harms or kills a patient. A single mistake. The crazy thing about these nursing home bed sore cases is how often the nursing home has to neglect the patient to cause injury. In this case, if the allegations are correct, there were so many opportunities to save this poor woman's life.
  • The internist that was sued seems the least culpable based on the facts in the Complaint.
Jurisdiction
  • Anne Arundel County
Defendants
  • New Annapolis Nursing LLC/Bay Ridge Health Care Center
  • Neiswanger Management Services, LLC/NMS Healthcare
  • Internal Medicine doctor
Hospitals Where Patient was Treated
  • Anne Arundel Medical Center
Negligence
  • bed sore lawsuit stage 4 Failure to strictly follow turning and repositioning instructions
  • Failure to adjust decedent's feeding schedule to account for her risk of pressure ulcers
  • Failure to properly assess and inspect decedent's body for pressure ulcers
  • Failure to take measures to prevent advancement of pressure ulcers and infections
Specific Counts Pled
  • Medical Negligence - Survival Action
  • Medical Negligence - Wrongful Death
Plaintiff's Experts and Areas of Specialty
  • None at this time
Getting a Lawyer for Your Nursing Home Malpractice Claim

Have you or someone you know suffered due to negligence by a nursing home or doctor? Miller and Zois can help you. You deserve justice and monetary compensation. We have a long history of significant verdicts and settlements in nursing home malpractice case (click on the settlements and verdicts link above). Get more information. Give us a call today at (800) 553-8082 or go online for a free consultation.

More Malpractice Claim Information
Client Reviews
★★★★★
When my sister was killed, we turned to Miller & Zois to fight for us. They stood by us every step of the way and we ended up getting more money than we asked for. C.B. (Baltimore City)
★★★★★
My prior lawyer was not able to get the insurance companies to offer a single penny in my case. Then my lawyer referred me to Ron and Laura. It was a long fight and they fought for me every step of the way. My case settled for $1.31 million. A.A. (Baltimore City)
★★★★★
I did not get an offer for my case because the insurance company said they were denying coverage. My lawyer then referred me to Miller & Zois. After Miller & Zois got involved, the offer was raised to $150,000. We thought that was not fair so Miller & Zois took my case to arbitration. Our case was well prepared and perfectly executed. The arbitrator awarded me $405,000. R.V. (Anne Arundel County)
★★★★★
I refer all of my serious injury cases in Maryland to Miller & Zois because they turn over every last stone to maximize the value of their case. The last case I referred to them settled for $1.2 million. John Selinger (New York personal injury lawyer)
★★★★★
As former insurance defense lawyers, Miller & Zois 'know the other side's playbook'. Lawyers Weekly USA