Hospitals are supposed to be clean and safe places where individuals can recover and restore their health. Yet a recent study reveals that hospitals are teeming with bacteria, and many individuals suffer infections while they are recovering. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published the shocking statistic that one in every 25 patients suffers an infection in a hospital.
The research calculated that as many as 721,800 hospital patients suffered infections last year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that about 75,000 of the infected patients last year died. There was no research done to investigate the exact correlation between the infections and the cause of death, but it is assumed that patients had a harder time recovering if they were unable to beat an infection.
The most common types of infections in hospitals are pneumonia and surgical-site infections. These accounted for about 22% of all infections in the hospital. Following this was gastrointestinal infections and urinary tract infections. Also, some patients suffered infections of the bloodstream, which could lead to serious and even fatal complications.
This study may seem to be a cry for change, but it also points out that there has been significant improvement in reducing the amount of infections in recent years. In 2002, a CNN report shows that there were about 1.7 million infections and 155,668 patient deaths. That makes the lower numbers in the most recent study not seem nearly as severe. In the 2002 study, physicians determined that 98,097 hospital patients died as a result of their infections.
Hospitals have already tried to improve many different areas of practice and train nurses and assistants to follow routine checklist operations to prevent the spread of bacteria which could turn into infections. Still, hospitals admit that they haven't mastered the art of combatting infections just yet. Bloodstream infections have dropped dramatically by 44% in the past several years, but C. difficile infections have become more severe. These are infections that are antibiotic-resistant. The CDC reports that antibiotic resistant infections account for about 23,000 hospital deaths a year, because the physicians are incapable of administering medications which could save the patients' life.
The hospital infection rates through the United States vary differently between the states and even the hospitals in the same state. Some hospitals have higher standards of care than others, and therefore have less infected patients in their premises. While causes of infection vary, they are often easily fixable. For example, one easy way to remedy infections is for nurses and doctors to wash their hands before treatment.
Additionally, many nurses and doctors can reduce infection my taking out catheters and other medical devices at the correct time. All tools should be sterilized before use, and sheets should be washed consistently. If you are the victim of a serious hospital infection, you may want to talk with a medical malpractice attorney. Admittedly, there are some infections that may have been unavoidable, and there may be nothing you can do.
In other circumstances, nurses and doctors may be solely responsible for an avoidable infection. You will want a professional attorney to assess your situation and determine whether or not you have the ability to seek compensation. Use this directory to locate an attorney that can help you to receive the legal assistance that you need. You may be able to investigate or contact legal professionals who can determine who is liable for your infection and how you should go about pursuing a lawsuit. Find a medical malpractice attorney today to get started.