An elderly South australian woman, Barbara Piro, died at age 91 after she was left alone while her daughter took a vacation. The woman shared a home with her daughter, Susan Piro, in Adelaide, Australia prior to her death in 2008. The daughter is a practicing nurse who had provided and cared for her mother for nearly twenty years before she elected to travel to the United States. Susan Piro left food and water next to her mother’s bed when she departed for America on October 16. Bed sore lawyers say that only one week later, Barbara Piro was dead due to infected bed sores and a broken ankle.
Elderly Woman Could Have Been Treated
Initially, Susan Piro cancelled the trip she planned to take to America. However, the vacation became too hard to resist, and Susan departed, leaving her mother behind. Ironically, the point of the excursion was to visit places in America her mother had once lived. Susan’s selfish and clouded judgement have now prevented her from ever being able to share these memories with her mother.
Lawyers fear that many elderly men and women are left alone in times of need; times when they are unable to provide sufficient care for themselves. Without this supervision and assistances, outcomes could be tragic, as was the case with Barbara Piro.
Bed Sore Attorneys of New Jersey and Philadelphia
If your loved one has recently suffered from a bed sore, you may have questions for our professionals regarding your legal rights. If you suspect that neglect or mistreatment played a factor in the development of a bed sore, contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation. You may also call for a free consultation in New Jersey at (856) 833-0600, or in Philadelphia at (215) 567-2380.
Creekside Care Center in Stockton, California was fined $100,000 last month following the death of one of their residents. After an investigation from the state, they found that inadequate care led to the victim’s death. The nursing home staff failed to treat her properly after her left thigh bone broke in October 2008. The injury and lack of treatment led to cardio-respiratory distress and her death in the emergency room a few days later.
On average, research has shown that the process to upgrade to pressure-reduction mattresses would cost about 30 cents per patient. This minimal investment would soon pay major dividends in the healthcare world. Professionals project that the reduction in bed sores could save $32 dollars per patient in treatment and care costs. This equation leads to one conclusion, big money will be saved once healthcare costs decrease. Murray Krahn, a principal investigator with the study stated that “pressure ulcers are a huge but under-appreciated problem across multiple settings in our health-care system.” He continued by stating, “though they are not the full solution, pressure-reduction mattresses are an inexpensive and easy way to address the problem.”
Melodee first began experiencing symptoms, such as pain, blood in her stool, and constipation in 2006. After multiple hospital visits, medical professionals diagnosed her with hemorrhoids. It was recommended that the hospital perform a colonoscopy, but the hospital failed to follow up on that procedure or provide any screenings for rectal cancer. Professionals say that the following year, in 2007, Adam Cloer was transferred to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, where his wife would learn that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes because it was not treated in a timely manner. Melodee underwent chemotherapy, radiation, and numerous surgeries to remove her organs, all of which proved to be of no avail. The medical malpractice attorneys working the case stated, 
Sick and elderly citizens that depend on others for care are perhaps the most vulnerable of our population. Unfortunately, this populations is too often taken advantage of. Financial 
When a child is between the ages of six weeks and nine months, surgery is usually done to close the cleft lip. Additional surgery may also be necessary down the road if the cleft has a major effect on the nose and the surrounding area. If the cleft lip can be successfully closed by this initial surgery, it becomes much more likely that the child will have normal speech developments as the aging process continues. During the early months however, a prosthetic is sometimes inserted temporarily to close a baby’s palate to ensure that a baby can receive the proper food and nutrients. When a baby is able to take in the proper amount of nutrients, even with the cleft lip and cleft palate, lawyers say that growth and weight issues are not nearly as likely.
The doctors have been provided a sixty day window to edit and review their online profiles before they become accessible to the public. If doctors provide false information, and mislead potential healthcare consumers, lawyers believe that they will be subject to different forms of discipline. Other information that will be included in these profiles includes the medical schools they attended, specialty board certification, number of years in practice, location of practice, and whether or not the doctor participates in Medicaid. 
Many parents are alarmed after their child’s surgery when new scars are red. During the healing process, the body re-routes blood vessles to the scar to bring an extra supply of blood, creating that red color. The red will progressively darken for about three months and will be raised off the skin and stiff to the touch. Eventually, the scar will fade, soften, and flatten. Ultimately, the scar should look like a soft, flat, white line.
Jawara Henry, a 27 year old autistic patient at the South Beach Psychiatric Center, a state run facility in New York, died after a supervisor tried to restrain him. Henry was “agitated and aggressive and was biting staff and other patients,” when Erik Stanley, 37, a supervisor for disabled adults at the Staten Island mental health facility held him in a wrongful restraint. Stanley allegedly applied excessive pressure to the neck and torso of Henry. According to a source, he placed the patient in a “chokehold,” forced him onto his stomach, and got on top of the patient while he was face down on the floor. Stanley did “not follow protocol nor use proper techniques while to trying to restrain” and used “excessive force.” The medical examiner determined that the cause of death was asphyxiation by neck and chest compression. Stanley was charged with criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person. He pleaded not guilty and was released without bail.
The county insurance fund will cover one million dollars of the total expected settlement amount. The remaining amount will be subject to reimbursement from the California State Association of Counties. The county clearly determined that a drawn out litigation process would be a sub-optimal resolution to this tragic case of medical malpractice. The county’s legal department stated “it had been determined that timely economic resolution together with release of any and all potential claims is in the best interests of the county.” Lawyers say that this means that the boy’s family will collect this sum of money but has also agreed to end the conflict here, without pursuing any other claims of liability against the county in the future. Although this money should be helpful in assuring the healthcare and safety of the boy in the future, it is unclear how much medical attention he will need for the duration of his life. Medical malpractice attorneys believe that determining damage amounts for infants is among the hardest figures to calculate because of the countless variables and the length of the baby’s expected life.