Back in December, our blog took an in-depth look at the altogether deadly threat posed by sepsis, a condition that statistics show may be responsible for an astounding six million fatalities around the world every year and a contributing factor in as many as 50 percent of all U.S. hospital fatalities.

For those unfamiliar with the condition, it is defined by the Mayo Clinic as resulting when the body releases chemicals to combat an infection and, in doing so, activates an inflammatory response. This inflammatory response then sparks a chain reaction of bodily changes that can result in organ damage or even death absent the necessary treatment.

In recent developments, a group of renowned medical professionals recently published a piece in the journal The Lancet calling on their colleagues to start taking a more proactive stance toward the condition, which one of them called “one of the best known yet most poorly understood medical disorders.”

Some of these proactive measures called for by the group include:

• Increasing public awareness of sepsis.
• Improving the training of frontline medical professionals as it relates to diagnosing and treating sepsis.
• Creating a working case definition of sepsis to serve as the universal standard in all clinical trials going forward.
• Lobbying pharmaceutical companies to invest resources into sepsis studies.
• Encouraging regulatory agencies to make it easier for academic institutions to conduct sepsis studies.

It’s encouraging to see that this public health issue is not going overlooked by the medical community and, more significantly, that they recognize how nothing less than a global response is required to combat it.

Remember, if you believe that the loss of a loved one from sepsis was caused by either a failure to diagnose or another type of medical mistake, please consider speaking with an experienced legal professional as soon as possible.