How Improper Catheter Care Can Cause Serious Health Problems
Nursing homes aren't much different than hospitals in terms of the types of adverse healthcare events patients can experience at any given time. Long-term care facilities are breeding grounds for communicable diseases. Additionally, staff members might cause accidental or intentional physical and emotional harm.
Each year, more than half of all required urinary catheterizations across hospitals, nursing homes, and other medical facilities result in patient injuries. Improper catheter care is one of the most common examples of adverse events a nursing home abuse lawyer sees that involves residents who have been grievously injured or killed by gross medical negligence at a care facility.
Anyone who needs advice about catheterizations has come to the right place. This guide covers the causes of improper catheter care, the serious physical and mental toll on victims, solutions designed to decrease future harm, and several ways a local law firm can help patients and their loved ones.
Who Is Responsible for Catheter Injuries?
A catheter helps move urine from a patient's bladder when they’re experiencing a slow, weak, or blocked stream or can’t use a bathroom toilet. Typically, a catheter only causes an injury in the following five scenarios:
- A care attendant, nurse, or other trained staff member accidentally failed to install, clean, or remove the catheter correctly.
- The patient accidentally rips out the catheter because a staff member didn’t provide them, their loved ones, or a care attendant with accurate bed and walking safety instructions.
- The patient's body accidentally blocked urine flow or rejected the catheter via a wide range of actions, such as blood clots, inflammation, spasms, stones, and other physical mechanisms.
- Necessary frequent insertion and removal of catheters caused enough tissue irritation to result in chronic intense pain and inflammation over time.
- A facility employee purposely did something to the catheter to cause the patient to experience pain, fever, and other serious symptoms with the intent to extend suffering or kill the patient.
The Most Common Associated Health Problems
Although the most serious health complications vary widely by scenario, some common experiences occur. For example, a nurse might puncture or tear some part of the urethra or bladder or, rarely, the anal tract when they attempt to push a catheter into place with too much force, causing one or more serious Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) or other associated infections. If they don't clean the catheter properly, bacteria can grow and also cause an infection.
Anything that causes urine to back up within a catheter can cause not only an infection but also severe pain and painful involuntary muscle spasms. The blockage can keep waste materials found in urine inside the body longer than considered healthy. It can also exert internal pressure on the bladder and kidneys, severely enlarge the bladder and abdomen, and even cause a bloodstream infection (i.e., sepsis).
Just as seriously, an improperly placed catheter can compress nearby tissues to the point of causing tissue breakdown and death at the cellular level (i.e., necrosis). If a patient with balance or cognitive problems isn't properly secured or sedated in bed or taught how to use a call button for help, they might get up too quickly, accidentally snag nearby tubes and lines on objects, and then fall and rip out the catheter and attached tissues.
Of course, any trauma associated with a catheter can last a long time and cause other types of suffering. Medical emergencies naturally make patients feel anxiety and fear. An emergency involving sensitive areas below the waist can make these feelings worse. Even if a patient no longer needs a catheter, they might continue to struggle with the trauma and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sadly, in some cases, improper catheter care causes permanent physical and emotional damage. If the catheter leaves behind scarring that restricts urine flow or triggers long-term muscle spasms, the patient might experience embarrassing leaks, repeat surgeries to remove scars, uncomfortable pressure on their bladder, kidneys, or bowels, and associated frustration, anger, and depression. They might even consider self-harm.
Top Preventative Methods Available Today
Properly handled catheters don't harm patients, except under very rare circumstances. For this reason, many of the injuries experienced by nursing home residents are considered the result of medical negligence and abuse. Facility administrators can prevent harm from improper catheter care via the following methods:
- Regular Training: Staff members who receive the right training and post-training tests that prove their knowledge and experience are less likely to cause unintentional harm. For example, a well-trained nurse knows to look for tube kinks and place a drainage bag below a bed to prevent the back-flow of urine.
- Background Checks: Site managers who verify the work history of a new-hire candidate can decrease the chance that a future staff member is a predator who moves from region to region and nursing home to nursing home looking for prey they can hurt via methods that usually appear "accidental."
- Hygiene Rules: Workers who keep their hands and bodies and clothing clean reduce the chance of spreading bacteria and viruses and allowing dirt or other debris to enter wounds. On-site hygiene rules and regular monitoring guarantee that medical personnel protect their patients and themselves.
- Consistent Care: Attendants, nurses, and others who regularly check on and monitor the health of their patients know when it's time to switch catheters and permanently remove a catheter and related equipment. They can prevent infection and long-term harm by cleanly and consistently replacing old catheters on time, as required by law, and removing catheters that are no longer necessary.
Patients and their families can prevent catheter injuries by seeking expert advice from a nursing home abuse lawyer when looking for a residential facility. A local lawyer will know which nursing homes offer the best care. They can prevent future harm to themselves and others by addressing these matters in a local court as well. A court claim does more than provide victims with much-needed financial assistance after improper catheter care. These lawsuits help to force local authorities to investigate and even shut down facilities where far too many patients suffer this type of harm regularly.
For more information about nursing home safety and your potential legal options after a loved one is injured, My Nursing Home Abuse Guide can be an excellent resource.
