Nursing Home Residents Require Additional Rehabilitative Care After Suffering from a Stroke
If someone living in a nursing home has a stroke, they should be treated in an inpatient rehabilitation facility rather than remain in the nursing home. The resident may need intensive, multidisciplinary treatment, and initial rehabilitation should take place in a facility equipped with the appropriate care staff. Advanced specialty care is especially needed if negligent nursing home workers missed the early signs of stroke in a resident, causing a delay in treatment. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders explains the types of strokes most common to nursing home patients.
- Cerebral Hemorrhage: Caused by the sudden rupture of an artery in the brain, blood spills out and compresses brain structures. Approximately 20% of strokes are caused by bleeding. Preventable falls may be behind a cerebral hemorrhage.
- Embolic Stroke: A clot develops in a part of the body other than the brain (commonly the heart). It travels through the bloodstream into the brain, where it lodges in a small artery. This stroke occurs suddenly and without warning. Approximately 15% of embolic strokes occur in persons with atrial fibrillation.
- Ischemic Stroke: The most common type of stroke; accounts for approximately 80% of all strokes. It is caused by a clot or other blockage within an artery leading to the brain.
- Lacunar Infarct: Small, deep infarcts located mainly in the basal ganglia and thalamus. It may also affect the brain stem, internal and external capsules, and periventricular white matter. When a stroke occurs due to small vessel disease, a minimal infarction results, sometimes called a lacunar infarction. Most likely caused by atherosclerotic occlusion of perforating branches. Accounts for approximately 25% of all ischemic strokes.
- Thrombotic Stroke: In this case, a clot forms in the brain’s blood vessels, usually one of the cerebral arteries. It remains attached to the artery wall until it grows large enough to occlude blood flow.
- Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Caused by the sudden rupture of an artery. The rupture location leads to blood filling the space surrounding the brain rather than inside it.
After a stroke, nursing home residents may require ongoing, unique medical support because of paralysis and weakness, a decline in gross and fine motor skills, and speech, music, and language therapies.
Nursing Home Residents Suffering from Stroke Deserve Top Quality Care
If a nursing home or rehabilitation center has failed you or your loved one after suffering from a stroke, we are so very sorry. We want you to know we are ready to help with the support and compensation necessary for their recovery. And if you believe that a loved one who suffered a stroke is not receiving the proper care or that their stroke occurred because of nursing home negligence in Chicago or throughout Illinois, take action and contact Levin & Perconti. Please, call for a FREE and confidential consultation at (312) 332-2872 in Chicago or toll-free at 1-877-374-1417.