My dad just passed away last month, he was a patient in a nursing home.. Doctors are claiming he pass away due to heart failer , but he developed a stage 5 presure ulcer in that nursing home that we knew nothing about .. Cause they hid & kept it from us .. By the time we found out he already had gangrene on it & also had developed all kinds of infections like MRSA,SEPSIS that pretty much had poisoned his blood and body all over.
But I cant file a law suite against the Nursing home due to their Neglences , cause the death certificate reads ( cause of death).. Arotic Stenosis.
Can a medical doctor change that or give me contributed factors.
I once helped a patient's sister who wondered about the same thing by going through the entire medical record with her and answering her questions. The patient had a very severe type of genetic illness and it was not anyone's failure to provide care, but I got a thank you for helping provide some assurance of that.
In your case I am very surprised that they never told you about the pressure sore, because most of the time they call about almost every little mark or bruise just to cover themselves. Even if you can't get someone to review records and help you personally with that, one thing you could do is find out from rating sites like www.medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare whether yours is one of many serious complaints or not. If you feel a conviction that this is a truly bad nursing home providing bad care, and that a law suit is not winnable or worth it, you could report your experience to the Office of Long-Term Care or the equivalent in your state.
And, I'm sorry for your loss in any event...hugs...
What happened when you found out about the bedsore? Did the wound care doctors immediately begin treatment or had they already been to see him. How long before his death did you discover the sore? Those bedsores can pop up so fast, and when someone doesn't have good circulation and good nutrition, it is hard to treat them. I don't know that a lawsuit, even if you won, would accomplish very much. He'd still be gone and the money couldn't be used for his care, so.... The nursing home is fined and they have even less money to run their business and hire help, so.....lose, lose situation.
I really feel your pain. I felt the same way when my dad died. Anger because he was taken too soon. I still miss him terribly.
The medical examiner says it was Aortic Valve Stenosis, which means the heart valve was narrowing which takes years in the making or your Dad had been born with such a heart valve. Other things that can make the valve worse are smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes.
I would go with the medical examiner's findings. If you sue the nursing home it would be a long drawn out case with no guarantee that you would win, and I doubt the family wants to remember your Dad that way.