Lakeland Bedsore Lawyers

Lakeland Bedsore Attorneys

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You trusted a hospital to care for someone you love, only to discover they developed a bedsore that should never have formed and is now complicating their recovery. It is difficult to understand how an injury like this could happen, and you have every right to ask questions and demand answers. 

Fernandez Firm Medical Malpractice Attorneys represents patients and families in hospital-acquired bedsore claims in Lakeland and Polk County, and throughout the State of Florida. Bedsores go by several names, including pressure injuries, pressure ulcers, and decubitus ulcers. All describe the same avoidable injury, which is often characterized by medical professionals as a “Never Event.”

For more than 25 years, The Fernandez Firm has recovered over $100 million for clients throughout Florida. Our Polk County cases are handled in our Lakeland office located on South Kentucky Avenue.

You pay nothing unless we win.

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Do You Take Bedsore Cases From Lakeland-Area Hospitals?

Yes. Hospital-acquired pressure injuries are a primary focus of our practice, and Lakeland and Polk County are well within our regular service area. We regularly prosecute bedsore claims against the largest hospital chains, emergency departments, nurses, and wound care staff, representing patients and families throughout  Florida from our five offices.

A pressure sore that develops during a hospital admission is not an unexpected complication. Hospitals screen all patients for pressure sore risk at admission precisely because they know certain patients are unable to turn and reposition themselves to relieve pressure and are at higher risk for skin breakdown. When a bedsore develops despite that known risk, the important question is not whether the hospital knew the patient was vulnerable. The question is what did the hospital do to prevent it.

Federal regulators treat hospital-acquired pressure ulcers as preventable harm rather than an ordinary consequence of illness or hospitalization. That distinction can be critical in evaluating a medical negligence claim, and it is one of the first issues we examine when investigating how and why the bedsore injury occurred.  Can Short Staffing on a Hospital Floor Support a Bedsore Claim?

Yes  – when the staffing shortage is what caused the harm. A hospital’s own staffing records, assignment sheets, and shift records can be the cornerstone of a pressure injury claim, separate and apart from any individual nurse’s error.

Preventing a pressure injury is labor-intensive, unglamorous work. It requires nursing staff to turn and reposition an immobile patient on a regular hourly schedule, checking the patient’s skin every shift, keeping the patient clean, dry, and fed, and responding immediately when the first signs of skin breakdown appear. . Basic preventive measures are much less likely to occur when a hospital unit is operating with insufficient staff to care for and treat critically ill or bedbound patients.

That distinction can fundamentally change the nature of the case. A wound caused by one missed turn during a difficult shift presents a different claim from an injury caused by a unit that was routinely understaffed. The second reaches beyond the bedside and into management decisions affecting patient safety. In those cases, the critical decisions that contributed to the injury may have been made by administrators and corporate decision-makers who were never in the patient’s room.  

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What Records Prove a Hospital Bedsore Was Preventable?

Often, the hospital’s own records provide the strongest evidence of their negligence. These cases are frequently built and prosecuted by documents the patient and family never see until a lawyer who specializes in this practice area demands them.

The most important records are usually the ones created during the patient’s hospitalization, shift by shift:

•  Admission pressure injury risk assessments, which establish that the hospital knew that the patient was at risk for skin breakdown from day one
• Turning and repositioning records, including whether the chart reflects that repositioning actually occurred or whether entries appear repetitive or copied forward. Skin assessments, particularly the period between the last documented normal skin examination and the first notation of skin breakdown; nursing assignments, staffing records, and shift ratio data for the nursing unit on the days in question
• Wound care consultations, including when the wound was first identified and how long it took before a wound-care specialist was consulted. Nutrition and hydration record, because inadequate nutrition and hydration can increase the risk of skin breakdown and impair wound healing.

We obtain all these records and compare them against a complete timeline of the patient’s hospitalization. If the chart identifies a patient as high risk but the preventive measures are missing, delayed, or inconsistently documented, that discrepancy can become critical evidence.

Likewise, repeated identical turning and repositioning entries, gaps in skin assessments, or delayed wound-care referrals may reveal far more than a documentation problem. They may help explain exactly how a preventable bedsore injury negligently developed.

How Do I Check a Lakeland Hospital’s Safety Record?

You can review a hospital’s federal safety data yourself, before you ever contact a lawyer.

The federal government publishes hospital quality and patient safety measures on Medicare Care Compare, where you can look up a specific hospital and see how it performs on safety and complication measures against state and national rates. Ratings there are updated periodically, so check the current data rather than relying on what a hospital was rated in a past year.

Complaints about a specific physician or nurse are handled separately, by the Florida Department of Health’s Medical Quality Assurance program, which licenses and disciplines individual practitioners. Filing a complaint about a negligent hospital facility, a doctor, or a nurse will not affect the process of bringing  a civil lawsuit

Publicly available data can be a useful starting point, but it rarely proves the case. Hospital-acquired pressure injury claims are typically established through the hospital’s own records and data — materials that are often obtained only through the legal process.  

Why Polk County Families Choose Fernandez Firm Medical Malpractice Attorneys

Because proving a hospital bedsore case often requires showing more than a single missed turn or isolated mistake. It means examining how the hospital operated as a whole—its skin risk assessments, prevention practices, documentation, and response when a patient’s condition changed. Building a strong winnable case requires a law firm that handles these claims regularly, not occasionally.

Hospitals typically defend these cases by emphasizing how sick or medically fragile the patient already was and arguing that the wound is unavoidable. The hospital’s own records frequently tell a very different story.  We examine whether appropriate prevention measures were ordered and carried out, how the unit was operated, and what the nursing and wound-care documentation actually shows. We know which of those documents to demand and how to assemble them into a clear account a Polk County jury can understand.

Polk County cases are heard in the Tenth Judicial Circuit, which also covers Hardee and Highlands counties, with the main courthouse in Bartow. We handle that process directly from our local offices, guiding families through the litigation process from investigation through final resolution. 

Our statewide practice is described on our Florida bedsore lawyer page, and our broader local work is on our Lakeland medical malpractice page.

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Lakeland Bedsore Questions, Answered

Is it too late to do anything about a bedsore developed last year?

Possibly not. In most cases, Florida gives you two years from the date of injury or incident to file a lawsuit. What families often underestimate is the considerable amount of work that has to be completed in that small window. A medical malpractice case cannot be filed in Florida until a good-faith pre-suit investigation is completed, a qualified medical provider has signed a sworn affidavit stating that there was negligence, and a formal written notice of intent to initiate litigation has been served on each negligent health care provider being sued. This process takes months, not weeks. The sooner we can request and review the records, the better the chance of making a recovery for the injured patient.

What should I do right now if I think a hospital is neglecting me or my loved one?

Photograph the bedsore injury daily and make sure the patient is being turned at least every 2 hours and the wound is being regularly treated by nursing and wound care staff. Then notify all treating doctors that a bedsore developed, write down dates and the names of any staff you spoke with, make notes of all substantive conversations with medical staff, and do not sign anything from the hospital or its risk manager or insurer until you have met with an attorney who regularly handles bedsore cases.

Can I bring a claim if the hospital says the bedsore was unavoidable?

Yes. Unavoidable is a defense, not a finding that concludes the case. The records must show that the hospital recognized the patient’s risk for skin breakdown, put appropriate preventive measures in place, and consistently provided the care and treatment the patient required. When the chart shows missed turning and repositioning every 2 hours, inadequate skin assessments, delayed wound care, or other gaps in prevention, the hospital’s own records can undermine that defense.

What is a hospital bedsore case actually worth?

It depends on the significance of the bedsore injury, how long it took to heal, if the sore became infected, or if it caused and contributed to the patient’s wrongful death. Recoveries can be significant and generally cover the cost of treating the bedsore and any infection or resulting surgery, the patient’s pain and suffering, and, when a patient has died, funeral costs and the family’s loss of support, services, and companionship. Conduct that is reckless can result in an award of punitive damages.

Will my case settle, or will it go to trial?

Most resolve before trial. They resolve on better terms when the hospital’s insurer can see the file is ready for a Bartow courtroom, which is why we prepare every case for trial from day one.

What Does This Cost You?

There are no out-of-pocket costs. Our firm advances all costs of investigating your case, obtaining expert medical reviews, taking depositions, and filing the lawsuit. We are paid a percentage of the recovery—and only if we make a recovery for you.

Your initial consultation is free, and there is no obligation to hire us afterward.

Tell Us What You Saw

If someone in your family developed a bedsore or pressure sore injury during a hospital stay in Lakeland or anywhere in Polk County, please contact us before you sign anything from the hospital or its insurer. We can request and review the records and explain your options so you can proceed accordingly 

We represent patients and families throughout Florida, and Polk County clients are served from both our Tampa and  Lakeland offices. Our other locations are listed on our areas served page.

100 S Kentucky Ave #285, Lakeland, FL 33801 (863) 230-8066

Call (800) 222-8163, answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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The Fernandez Firm – Tampa Office
2503 W Swann Ave #100,
Tampa, FL 33609
Phone: (813) 278-1032