Hospital-acquired infection is a serious threat to public health in America. While some infections are difficult to prevent, many others only arise after health care providers or hospitals themselves fail to adequately protect patients against the very real threat of developing infections during a hospital stay. When providers and facilities engage in this kind of negligent medical treatment, patients can suffer dire consequences.

For example, if a patient acquires an infection and the patient’s body cannot battle the infection properly, he or she could develop sepsis. When patients become septic, their bodies begin to essentially overcompensate while fighting the initial infection. This complication can result in destruction of bodily tissue, organ failure and shock. Sepsis also can ultimately lead to death. This infection-related complication is one of the most pervasive causes of death in the U.S.

However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not put this issue at the forefront of its own agenda, nor has it sufficiently educated the public about this pressing public health issue. Currently, sepsis is not even a topic listed on the CDC’s website as a subject of its A to Z index.

At the moment, family members of sepsis victims and many other concerned groups and citizens are urging the CDC to act in ways that will both ensure better public education on the issue and will insist that facilities engage in proper sepsis- prevention measures.

When a hospital or provider’s negligence results in a patient suffering from sepsis, the law can help to hold the responsible party or parties accountable. However, better prevention and education may help to ensure that far fewer sepsis cases will occur in the first place, which is the ultimate goal of any related safety campaign or prevention-related regulation.

Source: The New York Times, “Parents’ Fight Against Sepsis Reaches C.D.C.” Jim Dwyer, March 4, 2014