Since launching the scipressuresores.com website and the #StopPressuringMe campaign, the stories from spinal cord injury (SCI) survivors have come pouring in to The Spinal Cord Injury Law Firm. These pressure sore injuries start during hospital stays or residency in skilled nursing facilities. That absolutely preventable injuries- dangerous, life-altering, and threatening injuries- are so widespread, it should be shocking.
Research shows that up to 30% of people with SCI develop a serious pressure injury in their first year after spinal cord injury. Many of these injuries occur when patients are still in the hospital, a skilled nursing facility, or rehab with acute SCI. Others occur when individuals go in for surgery or respite. The additional trauma and risk to patients is unacceptable.
Pressure sores can be avoided with proper positioning and frequent turning. These practices are not expensive or invasive, unlike treatment for pressure injuries can be.
We seek to hold accountable the healthcare providers who allow these dangerous but absolutely preventable wounds to form and fester. The spinal cord injury community has decided. The survey says, enough is enough. Victims are angry and ready to communicate the failures of the providers whose neglect further compromised their health and quality of life.
Our attorneys will tell you this is personal, with the passionate investment of individuals with lived experience outside the margins as SCI survivors. When you know our world subjectively, and how quickly it can crumble under the neglect of others entrusted with our care, you cultivate a certain righteous anger regarding the negligence of professionals accountable for the care of those in our community.
If you’ve suffered a pressure sore while in a healthcare facility, you may be told the injury is a secondary complication of SCI. But in no case is a pressure sore injury inevitable. When they occur, caretakers are liable. Pressure sores aren’t just a “complication”, they are a failure, says Kelley Simoneaux.
Check out scipressuresores.com for valuable resources on diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of pressure sores. The website breaks down our process for navigating medical malpractice in pressure injury cases. There’s also a handy link to connect with us, add your story, and discuss how our lawyers can fight for you.
As we learn how truly widespread this issue is, we ask for even more stories, not to normalize the experience- if you’re part of the community you know how normal it is- but in the hopes that in holding health care providers accountable for this absurdly widespread negligence, pressure injuries will become less and less the norm for people with spinal cord injuries.
#StopPressuringMe Take our survey/Tell us your story
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