Hospital Infections
Surprisingly, one out of every twenty hospital patients gets an infection. And hospital infections are the fourth largest cause of death in the United States. In fact, approximately two million Americans a year get an infection while admitted to a hospital and over one hundred thousand of them die. Many hospital infections are preventable. Improvements in intravenous catheter use, compliance with pre-surgical best practices, and better hygiene can significantly reduce the risk of infection.
Infections can cause a simple medical condition to become much more severe or serious condition to become life threatening. Thus, when a patient contracts an infection in the hospital it is necessary to examine the underlying medical condition, the risk of contracting an infection for that type of patient, and what steps were taken by the hospital to reduce exposure to infectious agents. Infection cases must be thoroughly investigated. First, you need to determine whether the hospital had a proper plan. Next, did the healthcare providers in the hospital follow the plan. For example, were physicians were properly monitoring the use and administration of antibiotics and were sterilization procedures were followed. There can be times when the hospital is not negligent for the patient developing an infection, however they can be at fault for not quickly diagnosing and treating the infection.
To prove that malpractice caused or contributed to a hospital infection you must establish that the hospital did not have a proper infection control plan or they failed to follow the plan they adopted. Further, the error must have been one that a reasonable hospital would not have committed and which caused the injury to the patient.
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