Pressure ulcers, or bedsores, are commonly found in nursing homes. Nursing home patients who acquire these ulcers have not been taken care of properly by nursing home staff. Unfortunately, many cases of bedsores go unrecognized and are not documented by state health departments.

Staffing shortages are a growing concern for many nursing homes. Due to a growing clinic that offers nurses better pay, going back to school, and health care benefits, nursing homes are losing nursing staff and struggling to replace them. Bills have been created and sent to the House to attempt to gain money for these nursing facilities so they can remain competitive with other nurses by offering staff better pay.

A bill on whether nursing patients should be allowed to have a camera in their room was recently postponed by the House committee. People who oppose the bill argue that allowing cameras in rooms would decrease the amount of staff willing to work in those nursing homes by making staff uncomfortable. Nursing homes are afraid that if they allow cameras in rooms staff will be fearful that innocent actions will look bad on tape and they could easily be sued by families.

A resident from a nursing home recently died because of a poorly placed feeding tube. Her family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit and is seeking damages in excess of $50,000. There are multiple reasons for the family’s disapproval of the nursing home’s care for their loved one.

Bed sores and ulcers are a potential problem in all nursing homes. A professor of nursing and medicine modeled a device called the Sub-Epidural Moisture (SEM) Scanner to try and prevent bedsores in an easy and more efficient way for nursing home facilities. This new product is a scanner that predicts bedsores and ulcers before they appear or do real damage.

A former nursing home owner was recently convicted of bankruptcy fraud by a jury. The owner allegedly lied on several occasions about ownership of safe deposit boxes. He also refrained from sharing assets with his creditors.