Necrotising Fasciitis After Abscess Not Drained
If you had a large abscess that was not drained and you subsequently developed necrotising fasciitis, the treatment you received may have been substandard. If this caused you unnecessary suffering, you could be entitled to claim compensation.
Large abscess
An abscess is a collection of pus, either inside the body or just underneath the surface of the skin. Normally the abscess appears because the body has fought off a bacterial infection, the process of which has caused some of the nearby tissue to die. This creates a hole into which pus (dead white blood cells) falls.
Abscesses can vary in size. A small abscess may not need any treatment as it will drain of its own accord. But a larger abscess will need medical intervention, certainly in the form of antibiotics, and if it is very large than drainage may also be required. Drainage involves inserting a needle into the abscess or cutting it open, allowing the pus to come out.
Treating an abscess
When deciding how to treat an abscess, medical practitioners must judge the best way to proceed. If the abscess is small and the patient is healthy, it may be acceptable to monitor the problem to check it heals by itself.
But if the abscess is large, and/or the patient is not healthy (for example, is obese or has type 2 diabetes) it may not be safe to withhold medical treatment. In such cases the patient should be started on antibiotics and referred to hospital for drainage.
Failure to treat an abscess
If a medical practitioner makes the wrong decision, the consequences can be serious. The abscess will not heal and the patient will become ill with an infection. It has been known for life-threatening infections to develop as a result of an untreated abscess, including the necrotising fasciitis infection.
Necrotising fasciitis will destroy the tissue surrounding the abscess. The necrotising fasciitis bacteria will also rapidly reproduce, meaning the infection quickly spreads. The bacteria can reach the bloodstream, something which will trigger a septic response where the body attacks its own organs and tissues.
Has this happened to you?
If you developed necrotising fasciitis because your abscess was not diagnosed and treated within a reasonable amount of time, you could be the victim of medical negligence. For instance, it may be that your abscess was wrongly diagnosed, or doctors decided that you did not need antibiotics/drainage.
To find out if you have grounds for a medical negligence claim, please get in touch with us at Glynns Solicitors.
Please call us free on 0800 234 3300 (or from a mobile 01275 334030) or complete our Online Enquiry Form.
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