Failure To Detect Leaks During Surgery Leading To Sepsis

Watch the video below to learn more about the failure to detect leaks during surgery, which can lead to sepsis from one of our medical malpractice lawyers.

Learn More:

Failure To Correctly Interpret X-Rays, Lab Results, And Diagnostic Tests

Failure To Diagnose A Condition – The Most Common Types Of Negligence

What is Neonatal Infection? – Neonatal Sepsis (Failure to Treat)

Video Transcript

When it comes to failure to detect leaks leading the sepsis, unfortunately, this is a situation that happens all too often, and the take-home message for patients or family of people who are patients that think they may have been victims of negligence is that it is very, very rare that you can win a lawsuit saying that the doctors did something wrong with, technically with the surgery. Bad things happen, people have bad outcomes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s negligence, and that definitely will preclude you from having a case. 

But what does happen oftentimes, is that there are recognizable symptoms that occur after surgeries that basically relate and show that, you know, there may be leakage, and those symptoms are just simply ignored. People call the nursing line or call the doctor’s office and they tell them, hey, you know, come in the morning or come in the next day, woefully insufficient when there’s a possibility that bacteria-laden bile and stool is leaking into a sterile abdominal cavity, and so that’s pretty much it in a nutshell focus moreso. 

If you or your family member believe that they had it or you had symptoms associated with a bowel leak and those symptoms namely being abdominal pain, fever, chills, sweating, if you have those symptoms and you believe that those were related to a bowel leak and there was a substantial delay in that leak actually being treated and closed up, give us a call. 

I mean, these are the kind of cases that we look at seriously, and I pray to God, I do, that you haven’t suffered one of the more cataclysmic results of this kind of failure, and those cataclysmic results could be a rip-roaring infection, something called peritonitis infection of the what should be a sterile abdominal cavity. It could cause long-term hospitalization where you have to be in the hospital on IV antibiotics and the like, it can cause sepsis. It can cause complete organ shut down and it can cause death. 

So I hope that that’s not your situation, but if that is, please call us. I’d love to really just thoroughly look at the medical records and tell you what happened.

More Information about Sepsis:

SEPSIS MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWYER

Failure To Detect Leaks During Surgery Leading To Sepsis : Diagnosing Sepsis 

Sepsis refers to an infection that causes a systemic inflammation response. The risk of death increases significantly when sepsis is not diagnosed and treated promptly. For patient safety, post-surgical infections are a risk that can be caused by any type of surgery. Patients who have had surgery (especially abdominal), trauma, and/or recent surgery are more likely to develop sepsis or infections.

Two or more of these findings can diagnose Sepsis:

• A temperature above 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Respiratory distress.
• A heart rate above 90 beats per minute.
• White blood cell counts that are significantly elevated or decreased.

These are the most common symptoms of sepsis:

• Fever and chills.
• Pain can be localized or diffuse.
• Breathing difficulty
• Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.
• Headache, drowsiness, unresponsiveness.
• Anxiety, listlessness.

Once sepsis has been diagnosed, it is important to get immediate treatment. We offer free consultations to determine if an injury from infection or sepsis could be caused by malpractice.

SEPSIS IS AN EMERGENCY

Failure To Detect Leaks During Surgery Leading To Sepsis: Sepsis Requires Urgent Treatment

Blood cultures should be taken to confirm that a patient has sepsis. Certain organisms can indicate the source of the infection. Gram-negative bacteria is a sign that the infection originated from the urinary tract. The patient’s presentation may require culture from the chest, urine, or lumbar pictures.

Sepsis can be a serious medical emergency. The infection must be treated immediately. The treatment should also restore blood pressure, oxygenation, and blood flow to the afflicted tissue. Blood cultures provide information that can help determine the infection. Antibiotic treatment must be initiated immediately. Injecting antibiotics intravenously is more effective than oral or intramuscular. Sometimes surgery may be necessary to remove the infection source or to relieve an obstruction such as in the bowel.