Long Island, Manhattan Accident Attorney Blog

Consequences of New York Nursing Home Bed Injuries

Many nursing homes in New York provide exemplary care for our aging loved ones. Some, however, are negligent in their operations, providing unfit care or conditions to nursing home residents.

When a nursing home is negligent in caring for a resident, and their ineptitude leads to an injury, it is considered New York nursing-home abuse. In some cases, this abuse results in slip-and-fall injuries, malnutrition, infections, or bed sores. In other cases, the abuse results in nursing home bed injuries.

New York nursing homes have a legal obligation to provide safe living conditions for their residents. One aspect of this obligation, safe beds, is often overlooked. The consequences of nursing-home bed injuries can often be severe.

Poor bed design is the leading cause of nursing home bed injuries. Side rails on these beds are intended to prevent falls, but they can also cause numerous other problems. Poorly constructed side rails sometimes have large spaces between the supports. A patient's head can get stuck between these (a suffocation hazard), or a frail patient can slip between them and fall to the floor.

Oversights on the part of nursing home staff can also contribute to nursing-home bed injuries. Poorly-fitted mattresses can leave a gap between the mattress and the bed frame, a space in which the patient's head can get stuck. This, like the side rails, presents a suffocation hazard to nursing home patients. Poorly fitting pillows and bed coverings pose the same risks.
Because of the physical vulnerability of most nursing home residents, the consequences of nursing-home bed injuries are often severe. Falls from nursing home beds can result in broken bones, back or neck injuries, and life-threatening head or brain injuries.

Suffocation from bed rails or mattresses can also be very severe. Approximately twenty deaths occur each year in the US as a result of suffocation in hospital beds, and many more cases lead to brain injuries, disability, or loss of crucial functions. Almost all are caused by negligence on the part of the nursing home.

If your loved one has been the victim of a New York nursing-home bed injury, you may be eligible to receive compensation for the accident. Cases of New York nursing-home abuse are serious, and the nursing homes need to be held responsible for their negligence.

The first step in pursuing a New York nursing-home abuse case is to contact a Manhattan nursing home abuse attorney. Proceeding without an experienced lawyer can significantly damage your case, and will probably result in a far smaller award than you are entitled to.

Call the Manhattan nursing-home abuse attorneys at Rappaport, Glass, Greene, and Levine today for a free consultation on your case. We have years of experience helping residents of the New York metropolitan area fight the nursing-home insurance companies.