Bedsores, in most cases, indicate negligent care. Bedsores can develop when individuals who spend substantial time in bed—including the elderly and disabled—do not receive regular rotation or exercise.
If your loved one developed bedsores at a nursing home, assisted living facility, or hospital in South Carolina, our attorneys can assist you. A South Carolina bedsores lawyer from Hughey Law Firm will identify all of the liable parties and seek fair compensation for you or a loved one.
Why Is Hughey Law Firm the Right Legal Team to Represent Those With Bedsores in South Carolina?
The Hughey Law Firm team develops a personal connection with each client we represent. Our human approach to the law means that when we see victims of negligent care suffer bedsores, we fight relentlessly to get justice.
There is no excuse for allowing needy individuals to suffer, and we’ll work hard to get justice for your loved one.
Clients trust us with their bedsore cases in South Carolina because:
- Our case results speak volumes about our tenacity: We have secured several six- and seven-figure settlements and verdicts for clients who suffered pressure sores. Our proven track record should give you confidence that we will seek the maximum financial recovery your loved one is entitled to.
- We provide second-to-none client service: Client service is one of the clearest differences between law firms. The entire team at Hughey Law Firm works together to tend to our client’s needs. Expect prompt communication, compassion, and a personalized approach to your case.
- Our former clients endorse Hughey Law Firm: We have a positive reputation among our former clients. This speaks volumes about our firm, as clients have the most direct impression of a law firm.
- We teach other lawyers how to pursue these cases. Due to our successes with bedsore claims, other attorneys come to us for experienced guidance and help with particularly difficult cases.
- We’re a law firm by South Carolinians, for South Carolinians: Our familiarity and passion for South Carolina sets us apart. Many of our team members are South Carolina natives or long-term residents. We are familiar with the state’s laws, the civil justice system, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals. Just as importantly, we feel a deep obligation to get justice for victims of negligence in the Palmetto State.
Between our financial results and our well-established reputation for caring for clients, you can trust Hughey Law Firm to lead your case with integrity and capability.
Why Do Bedsores Develop?
Bedsores can develop when someone is:
- Unable to feel pain as a healthy, able-bodied individual typically will
- Unable to move on their own or have limited mobility
- Unconscious
- Bedridden for any other reason
As individuals in South Carolina age or suffer from a disabling condition, they may not get out of bed on their own. In many cases, these individuals cannot even rotate themselves in a way that will prevent bedsores from developing.
Why Are Bedsores Typically a Sign of Poor Elder Care or Medical Treatment?
Whether an individual is in a nursing home, hospital, assisted living facility, or other types of care facility, their caregivers must know their needs. In cases of elderly or disabled individuals, the need to rotate the individual should be clear.
Therefore, if bedsores do develop, it often signals inadequate care. This is especially true of severe bedsores, which can indicate that caregivers failed in their duties for a prolonged period of time.
In the past three years, 132 of the state’s 188 nursing homes had infection-related health and safety violations, which can include preventable bedsores. Hospital patients across the state also suffer bedsores or worsening ulcers due to inadequate care.
My Loved One Developed Bedsores in a Nursing Home, Assisted Living Facility, or Hospital in South Carolina. What Should I Do?
If you discover that your loved one developed bedsores in South Carolina, you should get them proper medical assistance immediately. Then, consider hiring an attorney to seek justice for your loved one’s damages.
The Hughey Law Firm has represented many victims who developed bedsores and suffered other injuries due to negligent care. We can represent you or a loved one who has suffered because of their caregivers’ negligence.
How an Attorney From Hughey Law Firm Can Seek Justice for a Victim of Bedsores in South Carolina
Hughey Law Firm provides comprehensive legal services for our clients. Those who have suffered bedsores, and those who care for those bedsore victims, often lack the necessary time to lead a lawsuit. They also typically lack the legal experience and resources that Hughey Law Firm offers.
Our legal team will seek justice for you or your loved one by:
Documenting the Cause of the Bedsores
Your lawyer from Hughey Law Firm will determine how your loved one developed bedsores. In doing so, we will determine who is responsible for developing bedsores.
Documenting Specific Instances of Negligence
As we document your loved one’s bedsores, we’ll highlight specific instances of negligence. Negligence is any behavior that qualifies as unreasonable.
Negligence specific to bedsores may include:
- Failing to check in regularly on someone who requires frequent attention
- Failing to rotate the victim in their bed
- Failing to bathe the victim to prevent the development of bedsores
- Failing to promptly and appropriately treat any developing bedsores
- Failing to consult medical professionals when a bedsore requires medical attention
There are well-documented ways to prevent, identify, and treat bedsores. If liable parties failed to follow these best practices, we’d document their failures.
Illustrating the Damages That the Bedsores, and Related Negligence, Have Caused
We will document the specific damages your loved one has suffered because of their bedsores.
Useful documentation may include:
- Photographs of the bedsores
- Witness testimony about the conditions that led your loved one to develop bedsores
- Doctors’ testimony about the nature and severity of the bedsores
- Bills for medical care and other bedsore-related expenses
- Mental health professionals’ testimony about any emotional and psychological distress the victim has suffered
We may also secure healthcare professionals’ testimony about how caregivers failed your loved one. By illustrating the cause of bedsores, the failures of the caregivers, and the damages resulting from the bedsores, we may complete a comprehensive case.
Calculating the Cost of the Bedsore Victim’s Damages
Our team will determine how much the bedsore victim deserves for their damages. Between non-economic damages like pain and suffering and economic damages like medical bills, bedsores can take an expensive toll.
The attorneys at Hughey Law Firm are urgent but careful when calculating damages. We do not begin negotiations until we’re certain that our client’s settlement target is accurate.
Seeking a Settlement From Liable Parties
Your lawyer from Hughey Law Firm will lead settlement negotiations on your loved one’s behalf. Our case results include many substantial financial recoveries for clients. Our results include settlements and verdicts won for clients who had severe bedsores. We will fight for the entire financial recovery that your loved one is entitled to.
Taking the Case to Trial in South Carolina, If We Need To
Our firm is completely prepared to take your case to trial if necessary. We will exhaust settlement negotiations, as a settlement is the quickest path to payment for a bedsore victim in South Carolina.
While some law firms will accept a settlement because it is the easiest path, we only accept a settlement if it is fair to our client. Because we’re always willing to take a case to trial, we can negotiate from a position of strength.
Recoverable Damages for a Bedsore Victim in South Carolina
Pressure sores can lead to severe medical conditions, including infection of the bone.
The nature and cost of a victim’s recoverable damages will depend on the severity of their bedsore(s), and some common damages include:
- Pain and suffering: Neglect can cause pain and suffering, as a victim may feel uncared for, unsafe, and generally distressed. Pressure sores themselves can also cause pain and suffering, including physical pain, psychological distress, and a lost quality of life.
- Medical expenses: The types of medical care a bedsore victim needs, and the cost of that care, will depend on the location and severity of the bedsore. Patients may need continuous care to ensure a bedsore heals properly and avoids infection.
- Psychological and emotional treatment expenses: If your loved one needs treatment to address the psychological and emotional symptoms of neglect, we’ll include the cost of treatment in their lawsuit.
- Relocation expenses: Once someone discovers that their loved one suffered neglect in a facility, they often want to move the loved one. Relocating an elderly or disabled person may prove costly. Our attorneys will work to have liable parties cover all relocation expenses.
Each bedsore case is different. Your loved one may have other damages than those listed here. Our attorneys are thorough when identifying and valuing clients’ damages. Trust that we will fight for the complete financial recovery your loved one deserves.
Forms of Institutional Negligence That Can Contribute to Someone Developing Bedsores
As your legal representatives, we’ll identify every failure that puts your loved one at risk. Institutions are often legally responsible for their employees’ failures, and we’ll highlight every institutional failure that led to your loved one developing bedsores.
Some institutional-level failures our firm sees in bedsore cases are:
- Hiring under-qualified staff: When you entrust a loved one to a third party, you expect that they hire only qualified, safety-conscious employees. If we find that a facility did not adequately vet employees or knowingly hired an under-qualified employee, this will likely qualify as negligence.
- Failing to maintain adequate staffing numbers: Nursing homes must maintain enough staff to meet residents’ care needs. Yet, understaffing is a common problem in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and even hospitals. This poses a clear risk to patients and residents and can be an explanation for pressure sores.
- Failing to monitor, discipline, or terminate staff: Institutions must monitor those that work for them. It may be negligent if an institution does not constantly evaluate employees and discipline or terminate employees who put others at risk.
- Attempting to cover up neglect or abuse: It must be forthcoming when an institution discovers that someone has suffered abuse or neglect. Failing to inform the resident or patient’s family about bedsores or other consequences of neglectful care only worsens a bad situation.
Because we have handled a wide variety of bedsore-related cases, we understand the many types of negligence that can produce such injuries. Let us work to hold liable parties responsible for the harm they’ve caused your loved one.
How Much Does It Cost to Hire Hughey Law Firm?
Hughey Law Firm uses contingency fees, meaning you face no direct or upfront cost to hire our firm. It’s a no win, no fee situation.
With our contingency fee structure, you:
- Can hire us regardless of your current financial circumstances
- Do not pay us upfront for our services
- Allow our firm to cover every case-related expense
- Agree to give our firm a portion of your financial recovery
The key is this: We only get our fee if we win for you. You do not owe our firm a cent if we don’t get a settlement or judgment. This means that Hughey Law Firm takes all the risk when completing your case.
We May Face a Deadline for Filing Your Case, So Don’t Wait to Hire a South Carolina Bedsores Lawyer from Hughey Law Firm
South Carolina law typically requires that you file a nursing home abuse or neglect case within three years of the mistreatment taking place. You typically face the same deadline for any other personal injury case. This is a crucial reason to retain our firm as soon as possible.
We also want to begin collecting evidence and working toward a potential settlement as quickly as possible.
Call Hughey Law Firm Today for a Free Consultation About Seeking Justice for Bedsores
Dealing with bedsores and related damages can be all-consuming. Let an experienced, compassionate South Carolina personal injury lawyer from Hughey Law Firm start and finish your loved one’s case.
Speak with a team member today at (843) 881-8644 or contact us via our website. Call Hughey Law Firm immediately for your free, no-obligation consultation.
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Hughey Law Firm LLC
1311 Chuck Dawley Blvd. | Suite 201
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
Phone: (843) 881-8644