Sepsis Deaths In Hospitals
Around 37,000 hospital patients die every year from sepsis, although it is thought some 12,500 of these could be saved with simple life-saving measures.
If your loved one has passed away because doctors failed to provide acceptable sepsis care, get in touch with a solicitor today to discuss what options are available to you.
The sepsis six
The focus upon sepsis deaths comes after research found failings in the ways sepsis is diagnosed and treated in hospitals. This is causing unnecessary deaths in NHS wards across the country.
Speaking about the problem, Dr Ron Daniels, chairman of the UK Sepsis Trust, said: "The best hospitals have achieved better outcomes from sepsis by adopting a simple set of life-saving measures, collectively known as the Sepsis 6, and ensuring that a culture of awareness around sepsis has been created.
"We now need to spread this awareness to other health professionals and to the public, and to underpin this with guidance from NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence."
The sepsis six are simple things medical professionals should do in the first hour after a patient has been diagnosed with sepsis. These can be delivered by even junior healthcare professionals and will effectively double a patient's chance of survival. The sepsis six are:-
1. Administer high flow oxygen
2. Take blood cultures
3. Give broad spectrum antibiotics
4. Give intravenous fluid challenges
5. Measure serum lactate and haemoglobin
6. Measure accurate hourly urine output
Failure to diagnose and treat sepsis in hospital
However, despite these "simple life-saving measures", preventable sepsis deaths occur in hospital all too often. If is found that a patient could have been saved and medical professionals simply failed to provide an acceptable standard of care, there will be a case of medical negligence.
To find out if your loved one died or became gravely ill because of medical negligence, you need to talk to a solicitor about your experience. A legal expert who specialises in medical negligence (now called clinical negligence) will be able to suggest whether or not you or your loved one has been the innocent victim of medical error.
If so, you will be entitled to pursue compensation for the pain, suffering and financial loss this has caused. Although this will not undo the awful harm your family has been done, it will ensure you have the right level of financial support, and will help you achieve a sense of justice.
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