New York Post: "Hosp negligence cost woman her legs: suit"

By Chuck Bennett

An elderly woman in Brookdale Hospital’s nursing home lost both legs to amputation after developing bedsores when staff neglected to properly rotate her body, a lawsuit charges.

“The poor woman was admitted to the Schulman and Schachne Institute for Nursing and completely dependent on their assistance . . . Within two weeks, she was infected with bedsores down to the bone,” said lawyer Brett Leitner.

Almida Nanton was 89 and suffering from dementia when she was admitted in April 2007. Nurses or other staffers were supposed to rotate her bedridden body once every two hours.

Instead, her legs had to be amputated three months later, according to court papers filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court.

She died at the hospital in 2008 when a catheter placed in her neck accidentally punctured a vein, Leitner said.

Brookdale spokesman Ole Pedersen declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

Last December, a Brooklyn jury awarded $19 million in a bedsore-related suit involving another nursing home.

http://nypost.com/2010/05/31/hosp-negligence-cost-woman-her-legs-suit/