Bedsore and Pressure Ulcer Lawyers in Georgia & South Carolina
Bedsores — also called pressure ulcers, pressure injuries, or decubitus ulcers — are one of the clearest indicators of nursing home neglect. These painful wounds develop when sustained pressure on the skin cuts off blood flow, causing tissue to break down and die. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) considers the development of an avoidable pressure ulcer to be a deficiency in care. Medical research confirms that nearly all bedsores are preventable with proper nursing care — repositioning, adequate nutrition, moisture management, and regular skin assessments.
At Roden Law, our attorneys represent nursing home residents and their families throughout Georgia and South Carolina who have suffered from bedsores caused by nursing home neglect. A Stage 3 or Stage 4 pressure ulcer is powerful evidence that a facility failed to provide basic care, and our attorneys pursue aggressive claims for maximum compensation.
Stages of Pressure Ulcers
Pressure ulcers are classified by severity:
- Stage 1: Non-blanchable redness of intact skin — the earliest warning sign that pressure damage is occurring
- Stage 2: Partial-thickness skin loss involving the epidermis and/or dermis — appears as an abrasion, blister, or shallow crater
- Stage 3: Full-thickness skin loss involving damage to subcutaneous tissue — a deep crater that may extend to but not through the underlying fascia
- Stage 4: Full-thickness skin loss with extensive destruction, tissue death, or damage to muscle, bone, or supporting structures — often accompanied by undermining and tunneling
- Unstageable: The wound bed is covered by dead tissue (slough or eschar), preventing accurate staging until the wound is debrided
Stage 3 and Stage 4 bedsores are extremely painful, difficult to treat, take months to heal (if they heal at all), and frequently lead to life-threatening infections including sepsis.
How Nursing Home Neglect Causes Bedsores
Bedsores develop when staff fail to provide basic nursing care:
- Failure to reposition: Immobile residents must be repositioned at least every two hours to relieve pressure on vulnerable areas — sacrum, heels, hips, and elbows. This is a fundamental nursing standard.
- Inadequate nutrition and hydration: Malnourished and dehydrated residents have fragile skin that breaks down more easily and heals poorly
- Failure to assess skin: Nursing standards require regular skin assessments, especially for immobile or incontinent residents. Early detection prevents progression.
- Moisture mismanagement: Incontinence left unattended causes skin maceration, dramatically increasing pressure ulcer risk
- Understaffing: The root cause — facilities without enough CNAs cannot reposition residents, change soiled linens, and perform skin checks frequently enough
Legal Standards and Nursing Home Bedsores
Federal regulations under the Nursing Home Reform Act require that a resident who enters a nursing home without pressure ulcers does not develop them unless clinically unavoidable, and that a resident with existing pressure ulcers receives treatment to promote healing and prevent infection. CMS surveyor guidance treats the development of an avoidable pressure ulcer as a care deficiency.
Georgia’s nursing home regulations under O.C.G.A. § 31-8-1 et seq. and South Carolina’s health facility licensing under S.C. Code § 44-7-110 et seq. incorporate these federal standards and impose additional state requirements for resident care quality.
Compensation for Bedsore Victims
Nursing home bedsore cases can result in substantial recoveries, including costs of hospitalization, wound care, and surgical treatment (including skin grafts and debridement), pain and suffering (Stage 3 and 4 bedsores are extremely painful), emotional distress and loss of quality of life, punitive damages for egregious neglect, and wrongful death damages when bedsore-related infections (sepsis) prove fatal. Courts and juries understand that serious bedsores are evidence of sustained, systemic neglect — not a single mistake — making these cases strong candidates for significant verdicts.