A $300,000 bed sore lawsuit settlement has been reached between a Virginia nursing home and the family of a deceased resident.

Evergreen Health and Rehabilitation Center in Virginia is a nursing home that claims to give their patients “the highest quality of care, state-of-the-art therapy, expert services, and programming”.

However, the nursing facility faced a lawsuit from the family of a 90-year-old woman who died after only two months of staying at the home.

The family of Edna B. filed a lawsuit against the nursing home in January 2018, claiming that the staff at Evergreen “recklessly disregarded” Edna’s rights and needs. As a result, she reportedly was not rotated enough which lead to the development of bedsores.

Bed sores, also known as pressure ulcers, are sores that develop due to prolonged pressure on the skin. Simple pressure can cause these sores, but they can also be caused by friction or shear force (two surfaces moving in opposite directions). These sores often form on bone areas of the body including the back, heels, ankles, hips, and tailbone. To prevent bedsores, individuals who struggle with mobility must be shifted or rotated regularly.

If the pressure is not relieved, bedsores can cause serious health problems. In severe cases, bedsore injuries can damage the bones and muscles. These sores are also at an increased risk of infection and sepsis which can be life-threatening.

Individuals in nursing homes are often unable to position themselves to relieve pressure, meaning that they are at high risk of developing bedsores. This reportedly happened to Edna while she was staying at Evergreen. Unfortunately, Edna’s bedsores reportedly lead to complications and her eventual death.

Evergreen recently announced that they had reached a bed sore lawsuit settlement with Edna’s family that will pay the grieving relatives $300,000. The lawsuit sought $2.5 million in damages, which is significantly more than the settlement. However, this still provides an opportunity for the family to receive compensation for the death of their loved one.

According to local newspaper The Winchester Star, the bed sore lawsuit settlement agreement includes a confidentiality agreement – presumably to protect the nursing home.

Edna’s family argued that the source of the alleged nursing home neglect at Evergreen was understaffing. With insufficient staffing, residents may not be monitored sufficiently and quality of care may be compromised.

According to AARP, nursing homes may be overreporting their staffing numbers when reporting to the government. Understaffing is a known cause of neglect in medical settings, and this may be a rampant problem in nursing homes.

“Volatility means there are gaps in care,” said David Stevenson, an associate professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, according to AARP. “It’s not like the day-to-day life of nursing home residents and their needs vary substantially on a weekend and a weekday. They need to get dressed, to bathe and to eat every single day.”

Unfortunately, wrongly reporting staffing may result in nursing home neglect falling under the radar. Unless an investigation is done into a facility, authorities may not catch the issue in time.