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2016 Annapolis Bed Sore Lawsuit Against Genesis | Maryland and Baltimore Washington

Best v. Spa Creek Center

(Filed January 29, 2016)

Jurisdiction
  • Anne Arundel County
Defendants
  • Spa Creek Center
Summary of Plaintiff's Allegations

Elder at a Nursing Home This is a nursing home bed sore/slip and fall case.

A woman presents to Spa Creek Center, a nursing home in Annapolis, Maryland. She is at significant risk of falling due to multiple medical conditions known to Spa Creek, including but not limited to a prior hip fracture, dementia, osteoporosis, macular degeneration, and hearing loss.

While at Spa Creek, the woman develops sacral decubitis. This is a type of bedsore that develops when someone lies in one position for too long. For patients who are relatively immobile, like we can assume this woman was, it is nursing home's job to reposition the patient to prevent prolonged pressure on one area.

About a month after the woman's bed sore is first documented by Spa Creek, she falls from her wheelchair. She sustains a substantial laceration to her head which requires medical treatment at an off-site hospital.

Approximately two weeks later, the woman passes away. Her death does not appear to be the result of the sacral decubitis or the fall.

The woman's daughter, as the personal representative of her mother's estate, files a medical negligence lawsuit against Spa Creek in Anne Arundel County. She alleges that Spa Creek violated the standard of care by failing to adequately prevent, document the existence of, and treat the sacral decubitis. Spa Creek also allegedly violated the standard of care in failing to adequately assess the nature of the woman's fall risk and institute an appropriate fall protocol to limit that risk.

Negligence
  • Failed to adequately prevent, document the existence of, and treat the sacral decubitis
  • Failed to adequately assess the nature of the woman's fall risk and institute an appropriate fall protocol to limit that risk.
Specific Counts Pled
  1. Medical negligence
  2. Medical negligence- agency
  3. Medical negligence- apparent agency
Plaintiff's Experts and Areas of Specialty
  • Eileen Snow, R.N. - We normally link to the expert but cannot find anything on this nurse on-line or in any other filed cases in Maryland or anywhere else around the county.
Additional Comments
  • Bed Sore StageSpa Creek is a Genesis nursing home. One great benefit of the way Genesis sets up this maze of corporate entities is that it avoids a lot of bad publicity when it gets sued.
  • This does not appear to be a very strong case on damages unless the Complaint is just ignoring key elements of damages. It seems the victim suffered from a fall and some bed sores for a little over a month before she died of something else. Even if the liability case is clear, the damages would not seem to support a nursing home case.
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