St. Petersburg Bedsore Lawyers
Many of the most serious bedsore cases we see in St. Petersburg did not involve neglect inside a single facility. Instead, these cases started with a breakdown in communication between multiple facilities.
For example, a patient leaves Bayfront Health or another St. Petersburg hospital with a small, early-stage 2 pressure sore. The discharge paperwork does not clearly flag the problem and the family does not know it is there.. The receiving nursing home or rehab facility does not know to watch the sore closely and, within days, the minor sore becomes a serious, infected wound, and both facilities point fingers at the other.
If your loved one’s bedsore developed or worsened during a transfer between facilities, our St. Petersburg bedsore lawyers want to review what happened. Over the past 30 years, the Fernandez Firm Medical Malpractice Attorneys have recovered over $100 million for Florida clients. The consultation is free, and you pay nothing unless we win.
You can verify the license and disciplinary history of any Florida nursing or medical professional through the Florida Department of Health’s MQA Search Services.
Why Do So Many St. Petersburg Bedsore Cases Begin With a Hospital Transfer?
Because the handoff between facilities is where small, treatable wounds get overlooked.
When a patient leaves a hospital for a nursing home, rehab facility, or even home health care, the discharge summary is supposed to document every wound, its size, and its stage., In reality, early-stage skin issues are underreported or left out entirely – especially when a patient is being discharged following a non-skin related procedure (such as elective surgery recovery or a cardiac event).
The receiving facility relies on that paperwork to know what to monitor. If the discharge report understates or omits a developing wound, the second facility may not catch it until the wound has progressed to a serious stage. In such situations, weeks may have passed before the pressure wound is identified — with no one clearly responsible for what happened during that gap.
This pattern is common in the St. Petersburg area, given the volume of patients moving between Bayfront Health, other Pinellas County hospitals, and the area’s many skilled nursing and rehab facilities.
What About Pressure Injuries in Children and Infants?
They happen, and they look different from the bedsores most people picture.
St. Petersburg is home to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, a major pediatric center serving children from across the country. Infants and children who are immobilized, sedated, or connected to medical equipment can develop a specific type of injury called a device-related pressure injury.
This happens when a CPAP mask, feeding tube, cast, splint, or monitoring lead presses against the same area of skin for too long without being repositioned or padded.
These injuries are often smaller and less visible than a typical bedsore, but they can still cause serious tissue damage, scarring, or infection in a fragile newborn or child. Because the equipment itself is medical in nature, families often do not realize such an injury (caused by improper device placement or insufficient repositioning) can be a sign of Negligent nursing care.
If your child developed a skin injury from a medical device during a hospital stay, it is worth a careful review.
What Types of Bedsore Cases Do We Handle in St. Petersburg?
We handle pressure sore and skin injury cases involving hospitals, nursing homes, rehab facilities, and pediatric care settings throughout Pinellas County.
Hospital-to-facility transfer cases. Wounds that developed or worsened because a discharge summary failed to accurately document a patient’s skin condition.
Nursing home and rehab facility cases. Wounds that developed due to inadequate repositioning, skin monitoring, or wound care while a patient was in a facility’s care.
Pediatric and device-related cases. Skin injuries in infants and children caused by medical equipment, immobilization, or inadequate nursing oversight during hospitalization.
Wrongful death cases. When a pressure sore leads to a fatal infection, surviving family members may have a wrongful death claim.
In every case, the central question is whether the facility met the standard of care required to prevent or properly treat the injury.
If you believe a Pinellas County facility was involved in your loved one’s harm, you can also file a complaint with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), which licenses and inspects hospitals, nursing homes, and other care facilities statewide. A complaint does not affect your right to also pursue a legal claim.
What Has the Fernandez Firm Recovered in Bedsore and Neglect Cases?
- $2.3 Million — Nursing home neglect resulting in wrongful death from pressure sore complications
- $2.6 Million — Wrongful death verdict in Pinellas County against a healthcare provider for negligence contributing to a patient’s death
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in your case.
Why Choose the Fernandez Firm for Your St. Petersburg Bedsore Case?
Because pressure sore and nursing home neglect cases are central to our practice.
We know how to investigate cases that involve multiple facilities and we know what to look for in the oftentimes voluminous medical record. When a wound develops during a transfer between a hospital and a nursing or rehab facility, the defense strategy is often for each facility to blame the other. Untangling the facts and assessing responsibility requires obtaining complete records from every facility involved and identifying exactly when the wound was first documented, by whom, and what happened next.
Florida law requires a mandatory pre-suit investigation before a medical malpractice lawsuit can be filed. Under Florida Statute §766, your attorney must investigate the claim, obtain a sworn medical expert opinion, and formally notify each defendant. The defendant then has 90 days to respond before a lawsuit can proceed in the Sixth Judicial Circuit. When multiple facilities are involved, this process must be correctly completed for each defendant.
Who Will Handle Your St. Petersburg Bedsore Case?
When you hire the Fernandez Firm, Frank F. Fernandez III or Jennifer Gentry Fernandez will personally handle your case. Your file will not be passed to an associate or managed by support staff.
Frank F. Fernandez III has spent more than 25 years litigating medical malpractice cases throughout Florida. He has been recognized by Florida Trend Magazine as one of Florida’s Legal Elite and named a Top Attorney by Tampa Bay Magazine. Frank has gone to trial against major hospital systems and insurance carriers across the state, including in Orange County.
Jennifer Gentry Fernandez. has litigated medical negligence cases — initially defending doctors and hospitals, later representing only patients and families — since 1994. She has been consistently selected by her peers as a plaintiff medical malpractice “Super Lawyer” and has been named a Top Attorney by Tampa Bay Magazine since 2017. Tampa Style recently recognized Jennifer in its profiles of “Top Women in the Law 2026.”
In September 2022, Frank and Jennifer were presented with the Florida Justice Association’s Krupnick Award for perseverance and the relentless pursuit of justice. Jennifer and Frank bring the detail-focused case preparation these claims require, and the communication clients need while navigating one of the most difficult experiences of their lives.
St. Petersburg Bedsore FAQs
The questions St. Petersburg families ask before they call.
My mom was transferred from the hospital to a rehab facility with a small sore. Is the hospital or the rehab facility responsible for it getting worse?
Potentially both. If the hospital failed to accurately document the wound at discharge, that can be evidence of negligence. Regardless of what the hospital discharge paperwork said, if the rehab facility failed to properly assess and treat her on arrival, that can also be evidence of neglect. We obtain records from both facilities for expert review and analysis to determine where the failures occurred.
My baby has a mark from a CPAP mask or feeding tube at the NICU. Is that something to be concerned about?
It can be. Marks from medical devices that do not resolve quickly or progress to broken skin can indicate insufficient repositioning or padding. This is a recognized type of pressure injury and it deserves the same scrutiny as a traditional bedsore. We will thoroughly review your child’s records and determine whether what happened reflects negligent care.
How do I find out exactly when my loved one’s bedsore was first noticed?
This requires the full medical record from every facility involved, including nursing notes, wound care charts, and discharge summaries. As part of our investigation, we obtain these records and build a timeline showing exactly when the wound was first documented — or should have been documented — and what was done about it.
What if the hospital says the wound wasn’t there when my loved one left?
This is a common defense strategy and the claim is examined against the discharge summary, nursing notes from the final days of the hospital stay, and the receiving facility’s intake assessment. Discrepancies between different records often reveal where the breakdown happened.
My loved one developed sepsis from a bedsore and passed away. What are our options?
Surviving family members may have a wrongful death claim. These cases can include compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering before death, funeral costs, and the family’s loss of support and companionship. Time limits apply, so contact us as soon as possible.
What is the pre-suit process for a bedsore case involving multiple facilities?
Florida law requires a mandatory pre-suit process under Florida Statute §766 before a lawsuit can be filed. This requires investigating the claim, obtaining a sworn medical expert opinion, and formally notifying each defendant. When more than one facility may be responsible, this notice and investigation process must be completed correctly for each one before a lawsuit can proceed in the Sixth Judicial Circuit.
How long do I have to file a bedsore claim in Pinellas County?
Under Florida’s statute of limitations, you generally have two years from the date you discovered or should have discovered the negligence, with an absolute four-year cutoff. Exceptions apply for fraud or cases involving minors. Contact us promptly if you have any concern.
What compensation can a family recover in a St. Petersburg bedsore case?
You may recover medical costs related to treating the wound, pain and suffering, and, in cases of wrongful death, funeral expenses and the family’s loss of support and companionship.
Will my case settle, or will it go to trial?
Most cases settle, but only because the facilities and their insurers know we are prepared to take it to a Sixth Circuit jury. We build every case as if it will be tried.
If two facilities are both partly responsible, do I have to choose which one to sue?
No. Florida law generally allows a plaintiff to name multiple defendants in the same case when more than one party’s negligence contributed to the harm. Each defendant’s share of responsibility is determined as the case proceeds, not before you file.
We Don’t Get Paid Unless You Win
You owe us nothing unless we win your case. No retainer, no hourly fees, no upfront costs.
We advance the costs of investigation, expert review, depositions, and court filings. Our fee is an agreed-upon percentage of your recovery, collected only when we win.
The consultation is always free.
Schedule a Free Initial Consultation Today!
Contact Our St. Petersburg Bedsore Attorneys
If a loved one developed a pressure sore at a St. Petersburg hospital, nursing home, rehab facility, or during a transfer between them, call us before you sign anything from a facility or its insurer.
Call (800) 222-8163 or contact us online. Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The Fernandez Firm – St. Petersburg Office
360 Central Ave #840,
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Phone: (727) 220-5627