Sepsis is an illness caused by infection in the bloodstream by bacteria that frequently enter the body through open wounds or pressure sores.
Sometimes referred to as: severe sepsis, sepsis infection, septic shock, severe sepsis or septicemia– sepsis must be identified and treated as early on as possible in order to provide the best chances of survival. When left undiagnosed and untreated, sepsis can be fatal.
In order to make a diagnosis of sepsis, at least two of the following must occur:
- Heart rate above 90 beats per minute
- Hyperventilation (more than 20 breaths per minute)
- White blood cell count below 4000 cells/mm
Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers understands the devastation to the individual when a patient develops sepsis following a serious pressure sore. Drawing upon our network of experts in the field of nursing care and sepsis care, we are prepared to fully evaluate sepsis cases regardless of where the pressure sore originated.
If your family member developed sepsis following the development of a pressure sore, contact Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers for a free case evaluation today.
Related Materials Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers:
After a one week stay at Caseyville Nursing and Rehabilitation (IL), Theresa Mary Steiner’s pressure sores significantly deteriorated to the point that she had become ‘septic’ according to a recently filed lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that on December 12, 2008 Ms. Steiner was admitted to the facility with stage II pressure sores on her buttocks and early stage pressure sores on her heels. Five days later, when Ms. Steiner was discharged, the pressure sores (also known as pressure ulcer, decubitus ulcer or bed sore) had advanced to stage IV and Ms. Steiner had become known as septic. As a result of the sepsis (also referred to as: severe sepsis, sepsis infection, septic shock, severe sepsis, septicemia), Ms. Steiner died….
As a nursing home lawyer who has been involved in many cases where where ‘sepsis’ is listed as a cause of death, I can attest to the devastating effects this complication has on patients with bed sores (similarly called: pressure sores, pressure ulcers or decubitus ulcers) and other medical conditions.
To those unfamiliar with sepsis, it is a severe infection that effects the complete body. The wide-reaching effects of sepsis surprised even me. According to statistical analysis of septic hospital patients….
One of the most memorable cases I worked on involved a young man who was in a nursing home following a severe injuries he sustained in a construction accident. Due to the nature of the man’s injuries, a catheter was used to drain urine from his bladder. Despite doctors orders to change the catheter every 30 days, months went by without any catheter change. In fact, six months went by without a catheter change.
Finally, after six months without a catheter change, a nursing home employee recognized the obvious problems: cloudy / brownish urine and testicles extremely swollen due to infection. The situation initially resulted in a hospitalization where the man’s testicles were surgically removed. Unfortunately, the staff’s intervention was too little, too late. Within a week of arriving at the hospital, the man died from a condition known as urosepsis.
A recent joint study from Vanderbilt and Brown Universities found that hospital patients 65 and older have a fairly high risk of developing sepsis, or illness caused by severe blood infection. Sepsis (also called severe sepsis, sepsis infection, and septic shock) is a potentially deadly condition that’s often caused by late-stage bed sores.
The Vanderbilt/Brown study found that 750,000 patients develop sepsis in the U.S. each year alone, and that more than 60 % of those patients are over the age of 65. Risk factors for sepsis, according to the study, include: weakened immune system, frequent hospitalizations, malnutrition, and incidences of pneumonia. Another strong risk factor is exposure to medical tubes and catheters; both of which often serve as portals for infection….