Amidst increasing reports of elder abuse and neglect in nursing homes, Nova Scotia now requires nursing homes to report bedsores. In the U.S., action is also being taken to address numerous complaints of elder abuse and neglect in nursing homes.

As of last week, Nova Scotia’s Department of Health has begun requiring every licensed nursing home to report incidences of bedsores in patients, according to Herald News.

Bedsores, also known as pressure ulcers or pressure wounds, occur when a patient lies in one place for too long, causing a section of their body to lose circulation and develop an open wound. Bedsores are a serious risk in patients who have limited mobility and rely on other people to move them and monitor their sores.

Bedsores can be extremely serious. They can become so deep that they expose muscle or bone, and can expose patients to infection. They can eventually be fatal because of the complications they can invite. Many patients’ families claim that when a patient with limited mobility is at a nursing home, they are not cared for or moved sufficiently, causing them to develop bedsores. Bedsores can lead to dangerous complications if the resident’s health is not monitored closely enough to stop them from worsening.

In Nova Scotia, the change in law is resulting from news that three patients in different nursing homes died from septic shock that resulted from severe bedsores. In the interest of protecting other patients, the Canadian province is now requiring one-time reporting of all bedsores, and ongoing reporting of severe cases of bedsores.

Department of Health representative Tracy Barron says that she hopes that the mandatory reporting will encourage long-term care facilities to proactively monitor wound care, according to the Herald News. 

Kimberley LeBlanc, who runs a nurse training program that deals with wound care, expresses support for this change.

According to LeBlanc as reported in the Herald News, “If you don’t know what your problem is, how can you fix it?… For example, if I know my [nursing] home has a 26 per cent prevalence of pressure wounds, and I know that the national average is 13 per cent, I’ve got a problem, To fix it, you need more nurses as well as nurses specialized in pressure injuries who can come into the home and assist with prevention and management.”

Despite the prevalence of the sores, experts say that bedsores are extremely preventable if patients are properly cared for and nursing homes are sufficiently staffed.

In the United States, many families are discovering that a nursing home with which they trusted the care of a family member is not taking sufficient care of patients, causing them injury and suffering. Families and patients can take legal action against nursing homes that they believe are guilty of patient neglect by filing a lawsuit to hold the facility accountable.
If you or a loved one suffered abuse or neglect in a nursing home, you may have a legal claim. Filing a nursing home neglect lawsuit could help you receive compensation for physical, emotional, or financial injury incurred by nursing home neglect.