Pressure Sore Diagnosis & Grading

Pressure Sores are a sign of negligence

Grading & Diagnosing Pressure Sores

Pressures sores are diagnosed by visual examination. Good practice is to closely assess a patient’s risk of developing pressure sores and this can be done by assessing the patient’s:

Overall health
Level of mobility (specifically how much and how often they move, and how easily they can move)
Posture – is there anything that could affect the patient’s posture?
Symptoms that point to a possible infection
Mental state
Mental health
History of pressure sores
Urinary and/or faecal continence
Blood circulation
Nutrition

Grading Pressure Sores

Pressure sores are classified into a number of stages, based on how severe they are. The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel, based in the USA defines each of the four stages as follows:

Grade 1 Pressure Sore – this is when a pressure sore begins as a persistent area of red skin, which might be itchy and painful. It may also feel warm, firm or spongy when touched. The mark may appear to have blue or purple cast amongst those of African ancestry and people with darker skin, or even appear quite flaky. Once the pressure is relieved, the sore will generally disappear quite quickly.
Grade 2 Pressure Sore – At this stage the skin loss will have already taken place. This might be in the epidermis (outer layer of skin) or dermis (deeper in the skin). It may sometimes be both. At this point the pressure sore will be an open sore, like an abrasion or blister and tissue surrounding it may look red or purple.
Grade 3 Pressure Sore – The sore will now be a deep wound and the damage down below in the skin. There is skin loss throughout the total thickness of the skin and the underlying bone and muscles are not damaged.
Grade 4 Pressure Sores – This is the most severe type of pressure sore. The skin will be severely damaged by this point and there will be tissue necrosis (where the surrounding tissue begins to die). The underlying muscles and/or bone might also be damaged, as well as the tendons and joints. There is a serious risk of the sufferer developing a life-threatening infection by this point.

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Claiming For Medical Negligence

Clinical Negligence Claim

There are times that the medical procedures and care we receive may fall short of everything you expect to receive, and things can go drastically wrong, leaving you worse off and perhaps, severely injured. Watch our medical negligence videos for more information about making a medical claim.

The Surgeon with the God complex

Hospital Negligence, News

In a high profile news story this week, a surgeon who allegedly carried out completely unnecessary operations has been convicted of intentionally wounding patients. Ian Paterson, 59, from Altrincham in Greater Manchester has been granted bail and is due to be sentenced late this month. During the 7-week hearing some of the surgeon’s victims gave statements about how Paterson misled them into thinking that they had serious medical issues and carried out operations for conditions that in many cases the patients were not even suffering from. One female victim who underwent surgery by Paterson six times in seven years said that he “…tried every trick in the book to avoid accountability for his disgusting crimes. Mr Paterson charmed and manipulated his patients into trusting him. I for one trusted him with my life.” The victim had been told by Paterson that she had breast cancer and went through extensive surgery to remove the cancer, then a full mastectomy to remove the breast. It was later found that she had not been suffering from breast cancer at all and that he had made up the results so as to continue performing dangerous and unnecessary surgery. As well as working privately at the Little Aston and Parkway Hospitals in the West Midlands, Paterson carried out hundreds of unnecessary operations on NHS patients, costing one NHS Trust around £17.8 million in damages and legal costs. Sometimes even good doctors make mistakes, sometimes crucial pieces of machinery can fail, and sometimes a simple error of judgement on the part of someone treating you can cause significant pain and damage. Fortunately it is very... read more

7 Year fight for medical negligence compensation finally over for widower

Hospital Negligence, News

The widower of a woman who died from a blood clot just 16 days after the birth of her daughter has won a medical negligence case and undisclosed compensation from the Leicester Hospital where she died. Darren Taylor of Braunstone, near Leicester had to fight for seven years before the hospital admitted that mistakes had been made in his wife’s treatment. She died from a pulmonary embolism that was caused by a deep vein thrombosis (also known as DVT) in one of her legs that was due to pregnancy. When Mrs Taylor was found collapsed in the bathroom of their family home in March 2010, she was rushed to Leicester Royal Infirmary, but the doctor who saw her did not follow the hospital’s guideline on investigating suspected DVT on the basis that at that time, ultra-sound scans were not carried out at weekends. It is believed that if a scan had taken place, the DVT would have been noticed and appropriate action could have been taken to avoid the development of the pulmonary embolism, and hence save her life. In addition to the pain caused by the death of his wife, the situation was made even more insufferable by the NHS Trust’s insistence of its innocence of any negligence regarding the death. Speaking after the case, Mr Taylor said: “I am relieved that this is all over. It has been a long, hard seven years, but I am happy we have got the NHS to own up and the Trust says that lessons have been learnt.” If you or someone you care for has suffered as a result of... read more

77-Year-old woman dies after choking on doughnut in hospital

Hospital Negligence, News

A 77-year-old lady from Leicester died after choking on a doughnut that she was given while staying in hospital. The lady had been admitted to the Evington Centre’s Mental Health ward at Leicester General Hospital, run by the Leicestershire Partnership Trust, in June last year. She had undergone a behaviour assessment – which included looking into her eating habits – and was placed on a “soft food” diet to avoid any potentially dangerous incidents. However, contrary to this she was given foods such as toast and pizza by staff who were supposedly caring for her. When she began to eat a doughnut on the 25th July while left on her own, she began to choke. By the time the emergency team arrived the lady had suffered a massive heart attack from which she suffered significant brain damage, and she died less than one week later. A spokesman for the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust said: “We are sorry this tragic incident occurred while the lady was in our care and accept there is more we could have done to prevent this incident from occurring”. He added: “We carried out our own investigation into the incident, which we have shared with the deceased’s family and the coroner. We developed a detailed action plan following our investigation, which includes a number of different steps to reduce the likelihood of a similar incident in the future.” If you or someone you care for has suffered while under the care of a hospital or any medical facility, you could well be entitled to make a claim for compensation. While we all understand that it... read more