An aortic valve replacement surgery is a major cardiac operation, that removes a damaged or narrowed heart valve and swaps it with a mechanical or tissue valve. This type of surgery can sometimes involve several days in the hospital and weeks of further post-operative care and healing. This surgery also has a very high immediate success rate, meaning that most patients recover completely.
In this case, that is exactly what happened. Our client had a successful aortic valve replacement surgery. The issues began, however, with the hospitals and physicians’ post-operative care. Our client developed a preventable bedsore from this neglect, which became infected, ultimately leading to his death.
Hospital staff failed to follow our client’s post-operative care orders and failed to take the steps that prevent pressure wounds in a patient who was unable to reposition himself. The Townsley Law Firm represented his family and recovered a settlement of over $575,000.
Pressure Wounds Are Preventable, Which Is Why They Signal Neglect
A pressure wound, also called a bedsore or pressure ulcer, forms when unrelieved pressure cuts off blood flow to the skin and underlying tissue, usually over a bony area like the heels, hips, or lower back. It develops in patients who cannot shift their own position, which is exactly the situation of a patient recovering from major surgery.
The standard of care calls for regularly repositioning immobile patients, every two hours, monitoring the skin, using pressure-reducing surfaces, and supporting nutrition and hydration that keep skin healthy. These are basic, expected elements of post-operative nursing care and preventative measures necessary to maintain the health of patients. The steps that the nursing staff takes to prevent pressure sores must be documented in the patient’s medical record.
That preventability is what makes a serious pressure wound such a clear marker of neglect. When a patient enters care with intact skin and develops a severe, infected bedsore under a hospital’s watch, it generally means the routine, mandated steps were not taken. A wound is the visible evidence of care that was not given.
Why a Heart Surgery Patient Was Especially Vulnerable
An elderly patient recovering from aortic valve replacement is medically fragile. His mobility is limited, which raises his pressure-wound risk and makes diligent repositioning all the more important. Our client’s body is already under the stress of major cardiac surgery and less able to fight off infection, making an infection that could potentially reach and affect the heart especially dangerous.
That heightened vulnerability raises the standard of vigilance required, not lowers it. A patient at greater risk of both developing a pressure wound and suffering catastrophic consequences from an infection needs more attentive care, not less. The failure to provide it in a patient this fragile is what allowed a skin wound to become a fatal event.
How a Bedsore Became a Fatal Infection
The progression in this case followed a recognized and preventable path.
The infected wound. An open pressure ulcer is a breach in the body’s protective barrier and a gateway for bacteria. Once the wound became infected, it created a source of infection in an already vulnerable patient.
Sepsis. When the infection spread into the bloodstream, it triggered sepsis, the body’s extreme, self-damaging response to infection, which can cause blood pressure to collapse and organs to fail.
Endocarditis. The infection reached the heart, causing endocarditis, an infection of the heart’s inner lining and valves. In a patient who had just undergone valve replacement, this was a particularly grave development because bacteria in the bloodstream can settle on heart valves and surgical sites. Endocarditis is a serious, often life-threatening infection.
Each stage escalated from the one before.
Hospital staff failed to follow his post-operative care orders and failed to take the steps that prevent pressure wounds in a patient who cannot reposition himself. By the time the hospital’s failures had run their course, a preventable bedsore had formed, become infected, and set off this chain of events that killed him.
