Is it necessary to get a 91 year old immediately to a hospital if her leg is leaking a clear fluid? she has dementia and taking her outside her environment can cause her ability to stay cognitive difficult. she becomes mentally uncomfortable. she does not

Worsening : Worsening of cognitive function in an unfamiliar surroundings is very common and very uncomfortable to the patient and family. Given the circumstances you have mentioned it is not necessary to take her to the hospital emergently just because of clear fluid leaking from swollen leg. This is something that you can call her doctor during regualr office hours and make an appointment to be seen. Signs and symptoms that call for to seek emergent care are shortness of breath, redness of legs with fever. At this time, applying dressing on leaky area with pack of guaze, and then applying tight compression with compression socks or wrapping leg tightly with ace bandage would be ideal. Keep her legs elevated above the heart level. This will help reduce the swelling. In these situations where there is chronic swelling of legs due to venous stasis(pooling of blood in legs due to leaky veins) and periodic worsening causing skin break down and leaking of clear fluids, treatment called una boots works very well. This is a zinc impregnated dressing that can be applied to legs and left for a week , which gives the chance for skin to heal and also for the swelling to go down which ultimately stops the seepage of fluid.