Caraquet woman with stage 4 bedsore improving as family seeks accountability

Steven Hawkins has been visiting his mother every day in the rehabilitation ward at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre, where she is recovering from a shocking bedsore.

He no longer trusts the system that let this happen.

He said he's not really considering legal action.

"For sure it crossed our mind, but really we want somebody held accountable," he said. "We want responsibility. We want somebody to take responsibility for what happened to mom."

Since CBC News first told Lola Chiasson Hawkins's story, the online support has been enormous, her son said.

"The support we got, it just took a weight off my shoulders," said Steven Hawkins, relieved that his mother's story is out in the open.

To the bone

Lola Chiasson Hawkins of Caraquet celebrated her birthday Saturday, seven months into a hospital stay following surgery to repair a broken hip. On top of contracting pneumonia, she developed an open wound in her lower back almost two centimetres deep.

It was categorized as a stage four, the worst a bedsore can get. It was gaping, infected and to the bone.

Her family now believes the typically preventable wound has drastically reduced her chances for recovery.

She was cycled through four Vitalité Health Network hospitals: the Enfant-Jésus in Caraquet, Chaleur Regional Hospital in Bathurst, Tracadie-Sheila hospital and the Dumont in Moncton.

Medical professionals have told CBC that the depth of bedsore, in almost all cases, could have been prevented, primarily through constant turning to keep her from resting on one spot.

'She's doing better'

Steven Hawkins said this week she's doing better.

"They had her up in her chair for a couple of hours, like they should. We had her outside," he said. "She's doing better. I don't know for how long, but we'll see what happens.

"They're turning her over every second hour... and like I say, they're keeping the bed up high to try and eliminate the water she had on her lungs. And it seems to be working, because they took her off the oxygen."

Her bedsore has gone from 1.9 cm to 1.7 in depth, but it can take several more months to heal.

"It's healing, they told me, but it will take a long, long, time to heal," he said. "There's nothing magical about it; it takes a long time to heal a pressure sore."