A study by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care published in February 2020 highlighted the prevalence of poor outcomes for patients with sepsis in Australian public hospitals.
The study found that over a five-year period there were 437,354 cases of sepsis across 739 public hospitals in Australia. Of these sepsis patients, 12% died in hospital and 22.3% required treatment in an intensive care unit. As a comparison, only 1.1% of non-sepsis patients died in hospital and only 2% of non-sepsis patients required an ICU stay. The study concluded that there was a clear need for a national approach to improve early recognition and treatment of sepsis.
Similarly, over 20,000 people were treated for sepsis in Queensland hospitals alone between 2017 – 2018. More than 2,000 of those patients died according to Queensland Health. For those who survived, half were left with a permanent disability or impaired functioning.
What is sepsis?
• Fever
• Lethargy
• Muscle aches
• Nausea
• Shortness of breath
• Elevated heart rate
• Elevated inflammatory markers
• Elevated white cell count
• Elevated lactate
How dangerous is sepsis?
What problems regarding the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis do you see as medical negligence lawyers?
We have acted for families who have lost loved ones because there was a failure by hospital staff to diagnose septic shock and provide the timely and appropriate treatment, despite all the signs and indicators of septic shock having been recorded in the notes.
Our lawyers have also acted for people whose diagnosis of septic shock was significantly delayed by hospital staff or whose doctor failed to urgently refer them to a hospital emergency department after they presented with signs of sepsis. Some developed digital ischemia requiring amputation of their fingers and toes as well as extensive skin grafting in some cases.