Orlando Bedsore Lawyers

Orlando Bedsore Attorneys

When someone is sedated, intubated, or unconscious in a hospital bed, they cannot tell anyone that something hurts. Everything that keeps their skin intact from that point on is somebody else’s job.

Fernandez Firm Medical Malpractice Attorneys represents patients and families in hospital-acquired bedsore claims in Orlando and Orange County, and throughout Florida. Bedsores are also called pressure injuries, pressure ulcers, and decubitus ulcers. One condition, several names.

The firm has recovered more than $100 million for Florida clients over 25+ years, including a $36.7 million medical malpractice verdict in Orlando. Orange County cases are handled from our office on North Orange Avenue.

We don’t get paid unless we win.

You pay nothing unless we win.

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Do You Take Bedsore Cases From Orlando Hospitals?

Yes. Bedsores that develop during an inpatient stay are one of the main things this firm handles, and Orange County is a market we work in regularly. Our clients are patients and families across all of Florida, and the defendants are hospitals, emergency departments, and the staff who treated them.

A patient who cannot shift their own weight is the exact patient a hospital is supposed to be watching most closely. Pressure injury risk is scored on admission, usually on a Braden Scale, precisely so staff know who needs turning, skin checks, and pressure redistribution before anything goes wrong.

So when a serious wound appears anyway, the question is not whether the hospital could have known. It is what happened between the score and the wound.

Can You Prove Neglect If the Patient Could Not Speak for Themselves?

Yes. These cases are built almost entirely on records rather than on the patient’s account, which is the standard way they are proven.

The evidence lives in the hospital’s own electronic chart: the admission risk assessment, turning and repositioning entries, skin assessment charts, care plans, wound care consults, and the audit trail showing when each entry was actually made and by whom. That audit data matters more than families expect. It can show whether a nurse charted in real time or filled in a shift’s worth of entries at once.

We pair those records with an independent physician review of the wound itself. A wound does not reach an advanced stage quickly, so its condition when finally documented can be worked backward into a timeline. That timeline is often the whole case, and none of it depends on the patient remembering anything.

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What Should Families Watch For During Hospital Visits?

Look for the things a patient who cannot talk would tell you if they could.

During visits, check the skin over the areas that take the most pressure: the tailbone, hips, heels, elbows, and the back of the head. You are looking for redness that does not fade, discoloration, blistering, or any open area.

A few other things are worth noticing:

Whether your family member is in the same position visit after visit, which can suggest turning is not happening on schedule
Damp or soiled bedding, or a persistent odor
Heels resting flat on the mattress with nothing under the calves
Being asked to step out during dressing changes without a clear reason

It is fair to ask staff directly how often the patient is being repositioned, whether a pressure injury risk assessment was done, and whether wound care has been consulted. If a sore has already been found, ask when it was first identified and what stage it was given.

Keep dated notes of what you see and who you spoke with. Photograph any wound, with the date. Families who do this end up with a record that is often the only independent account of what the bedside actually looked like.

Is a Hospital Bedsore Treated as Preventable?

By the federal government, largely yes. Medicare classifies stage 3 and stage 4 pressure ulcers as hospital-acquired conditions, and hospitals receive no additional payment for treating one that was not present when the patient was admitted.

That policy is not a finding of negligence in any individual case, and it does not decide a claim. What it establishes is that the health care system itself treats an advanced hospital-acquired bedsore as a preventable harm rather than an expected part of being seriously ill. That is a useful starting point when a hospital argues the opposite.

If your concern is with a specific physician or nurse, complaints about individual licensed practitioners are handled by the Florida Department of Health’s Medical Quality Assurance program. That process is separate from a civil claim and does not interfere with one.

What Has This Firm Recovered in Orlando and Across Florida?

$36.7 Million, Medical Malpractice, Orlando, Florida
$3.57 Million, Hospital Negligence, Lakeland, Florida
$2.6 Million, Wrongful Death, St. Petersburg, Florida

Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in your case. The full list is on our case results page.

Why Orange County Families Choose Fernandez Firm Medical Malpractice Attorneys

Because a case where the patient cannot testify is won on documents and medical evidence, and that is how we build these files from the first records request forward.

A hospital defending one of these claims will usually say the patient was too fragile and the wound was unavoidable. That argument stands or falls on the hospital’s own paperwork. If the risk assessment flagged the patient and the turning entries do not match, the defense does not hold up under a careful reading. We know which records to demand, including prevention policies and audit trail data that hospitals do not volunteer.

Orange County cases are heard in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, which also covers Osceola County, at the courthouse on North Orange Avenue a few blocks from our Orlando office. We handle that process directly, so your family is not working through it alone. Our statewide work is described on our Florida bedsore lawyer page, and our wider local practice on our Orlando medical malpractice page.

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Who Will Handle Your Case?

Founding partners Frank F. Fernandez, III and Jennifer Gentry Fernandez review every file that Fernandez Firm Medical Malpractice Attorneys accepts, including hospital bedsore cases in Orange County.

Frank has litigated medical malpractice and hospital negligence cases throughout Florida for 25+ years, including the firm’s $36.7 million verdict in Orlando.

Jennifer graduated from Stetson University College of Law as a member of its trial team, and handles catastrophic injury and wrongful death claims against health care providers.

The firm’s attorneys have been recognized by Super Lawyers, Florida Trend’s Legal Elite, and Tampa Bay’s Top Lawyers. Both partners are profiled on our attorneys page.

Orlando Bedsore Questions, Answered

Can I sue a hospital if my father was unconscious and cannot tell anyone what happened?

Yes. Claims like this are proven with the hospital’s records rather than the patient’s testimony. Repositioning entries, skin assessments, care plans, staffing assignments, and audit trail data show whether the required care was actually delivered. Paired with a physician review of the wound, that evidence can establish neglect even when your father remembers none of it.

How can I tell whether my mother is actually being repositioned?

Note her position at the start and end of each visit, and across visits. A patient at risk generally needs turning on a set schedule, and a pressure redistribution mattress does not replace that. Check the tailbone, hips, and heels for redness that does not fade. If you ask staff how often she is being turned and get an unclear answer, write down the date and who you asked.

The hospital says the bedsore was already there when he was admitted. What now?

That claim is checkable. Hospitals are required to document skin condition on admission, and whether a wound was present on admission affects how the stay is coded and paid. If the admission record does not show the wound, the hospital has a difficult position to defend. This is one of the first things we look at.

Does it matter that my family member was already seriously ill?

It matters, but usually not the way hospitals suggest. Being critically ill is what puts a patient in the high-risk category in the first place, which raises the level of prevention the hospital owes rather than lowering it. Fragility explains why the risk existed. It does not explain why the care did not match it.

Is it too late if the hospital stay was more than a year ago?

Possibly not. In most cases, Florida gives you two years from the date of injury or incident to file suit. The catch is what has to happen inside that window. A medical malpractice case cannot be filed until a pre-suit investigation is complete, a qualified medical provider has signed a sworn opinion, and a formal notice of intent to initiate litigation has gone to each provider being sued. That is months of work, so the earlier we see the records, the better.

What Does This Cost You?

Nothing up front, and nothing along the way. Investigation, medical review, depositions and filing costs are carried by the firm. Our fee is a percentage of a recovery and applies only if there is one. Consultations cost nothing and commit you to nothing.

Tell Us What You Saw at the Bedside

If someone in your family developed a bedsore during a hospital stay in Orlando or anywhere in Florida, talk to us before you sign anything from the hospital, its risk manager or its insurer. We will review the records at no charge and tell you plainly what they show.

We represent patients and families throughout Florida, and Orange County clients are served from our Orlando office. Our other locations are listed on our areas served page.

111 N Orange Ave #818, Orlando, FL 32801 (407) 519-9308

Attorneys are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.