Medical Malpractice And Missed Infections In The Hospital Can Kill Patients

Any infection can be very serious.  This is particularly true of a hospital acquired infection.  These infections are those caught while in a hospital and are usually resistant to most forms of drugs or medication.  This can mean that healthcare providers cannot fight them and the infection will be able to run its course.  This is particularly dangerous and downright devastating to a patient, especially an older patient or a young paper who are vulnerable.  Some patients will end up passing away from this.

There are several ways to diagnose an infection.  Some of the most common ways are simply recognizing the symptoms and complaints of the patient.  That means looking at the issues the patient has like fevers, sweats, headaches, and other injuries.  This is just the basic approach that people will always take to ailments such as this, and healthcare professionals also need to do this.

Another way is looking at the labs.  Blood tests will be very important to review and check.  Blood tests can not only identify the type of infection, but can be used to measure the severity of the infection by looking at a patient’s white blood cell counts.  If these are elevated, it can mean that there are serious infections at play.

Another obvious way is to simply look for the signs of an infection on the body.  This includes a red, swollen, or oozing wound.  Other identifies such as warm skin or localized pain can also demonstrate an infection.  These are obvious signs that a healthcare provider must know to look out for.  Other times infections could be caused by bed sores, improper wound care, and other similar injuries.  Providers need to know to check these as well.

If a provider fails to check these and an infection is left to fester, it can result in a massive infection such as sepsis.  This is a large infection of the blood and can really be life-threatening and result in the death of a patient.

If infections or sepsis are missed, it can result in the death of a patient.  This is medical malpractice and allows a victim to obtain compensation.