When some kind of infection gets into your body, your body fights back. Sometimes, however, a body’s immune system turns on itself, causing widespread inflammation throughout a victim’s body.
That inflammation can ultimately lead to widespread damage to the victim’s internal organs, causing them to fail. Patients can be left with permanent damage to one or more vital organs – if they even survive.
Since sepsis is the result of infection, many people don’t realize that it can also be a sign of medical malpractice.
How poor practices and medical mistakes are tied to sepsis
Medical malpractice occurs any time a health care provider deviates from a certain appropriate standard of care when treating a patient. Sepsis can be tied to malpractice in several ways:
- Delayed diagnosis: Fevers, chills, rapid heartbeats, clammy skin and an altered mental state are all signs of sepsis – and doctors should be able to spot them. With sepsis, any delay in treatment can lead to significantly poorer outcomes.
- Improper treatment: Even when sepsis is recognized, mistakes can be made with treatment. If a patient isn’t given the right type of antibiotics for their condition, infected areas aren’t properly treated through surgical measures and the right nursing care isn’t provided, that can be malpractice.
- Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs): Hospitals can be the source of the bacteria that causes sepsis in the first place. Everything from medical residents who don’t wash their hands between patients to poor sterilization protocols for surgical equipment can introduce bacteria into a patient’s body.
- Inadequate postoperative care: Patients are at high risk of infection after any surgical procedure, and poor patient monitoring or care during post-op can easily lead to complications like sepsis.
If your loved one suffered a catastrophic injury or died due to sepsis, do not assume that it was something unavoidable. Ask questions. If you can’t get satisfactory answers, it may be time to seek legal assistance.
