Neglected Wound Care At Imboden Creek Leads To E. Coli Infection And Emergency Surgery

The Illinois Department Of Health has cited and fined Imboden Creek Senior Living when the facility failed to provide basic daily wound care for a resident’s back surgery incision, skipping required cleanings and dressing changes on multiple days. As a result, the resident developed a severe E. coli infection from fecal contamination, requiring emergency hospitalization, a second surgery to clean out the infected tissue, and an extended course of powerful antibiotics.

A nursing home resident suffered a severe infection requiring additional surgery because staff failed to properly care for her surgical incision. The resident in question was admitted to the facility following back surgery (a lumbar laminectomy) that had been performed five days earlier.

The doctor’s orders were clear: staff needed to clean the resident’s surgical incision daily with normal saline, dry it, and apply a fresh dressing. They were also supposed to check the incision every shift for signs of infection. However, records show the staff failed to provide this basic wound care on multiple days.

The consequences were severe. When the resident went for her follow-up appointment, her surgeon immediately sent her to the emergency room. Hospital tests revealed a shocking discovery – her surgical incision was infected with E. coli, a bacteria found in fecal matter. As her surgeon noted, this was “a result of fecal contamination and not from surgery, consistent with the resident’s statements of poor quality care” at the facility.

The resident’s daughter described the poor care her mother received: “The nurses at the facility did not do the cleanings of her incisions like they were supposed to, the dressings they had would never stick in place, they left her on the bedpan for over an hour, she was left laying on her back almost all the time.” As a result, the resident developed “rashes under her breast and in her groin, and bed sores on her backside.”

The infection was so severe that the resident needed another surgery. The hospital records detail a gruesome procedure where the surgeon had to:
– Remove staples
– Clean out “a large amount of brown purulent material and liquid”
– Cut away infected tissue
– Perform deep cleaning through separated muscle layers
– Use multiple rounds of sanitizing solutions
– Place antibiotics directly in the wound before reclosing it

The resident required intensive antibiotic treatment, including medications that needed careful monitoring due to their strength. She had to remain in the hospital until the full course of antibiotics was completed.

This entire ordeal could have been prevented with proper wound care and basic hygiene practices. As hospital records confirmed, the bed sores and rashes the resident developed weren’t present when she was first discharged to the nursing home, highlighting how quickly her condition deteriorated under their care.

One of our core beliefs is that nursing homes are built to fail due to the business model they follow and that unnecessary accidental injuries and wrongful deaths of nursing home residents are the inevitable result. Our experienced Chicago nursing home lawyers are ready to help you understand what happened, why, and what your rights are. Contact us to get the help you need.