Sepsis happens when the body attempts to counteract a serious infection, and it may indicate that caregivers allowed an infection to persist for a substantial amount of time before the sepsis occurred. In this sense, sepsis may raise a red flag that your loved one received substandard medical care in the nursing home where they live, and the sepsis itself can also cause significant harm.
Call a Berwyn sepsis lawyer at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today if your loved one received a diagnosis of sepsis. You may have reason to bring a lawsuit on the grounds of negligent care by the nursing home where your loved one contracted sepsis.
Sepsis May Result from Poor Medical Care
Elderly adults often live with a high susceptibility to infections, and those in charge of providing medical care to your loved one must remain on a constant lookout for any signs of an infection. All medical professionals, including employees in the nursing home where your loved one lives, should be well-versed in the symptoms of various infections.
There is no excuse to not know the signs and symptoms of infection or to ignore these signs. They can include:
- Problems when your loved one urinates, such as going too frequently and experiencing pain.
- Problems with digestion, bowel movements, and the areas of the body that carry out these processes, which may include pain in the abdomen or rectum, vomiting, and diarrhea.
- Skin irritation, including redness and swelling that does not go away.
- Aches, pains, and stiffness, especially if they affect the neck area.
- Persistent fever, chills, and sweating.
- Sore throat, coughing, shortness of breath, or congestion.
- Abnormal vaginal discharge.
Any of these symptoms should warrant great concern, especially when they occur in the elderly. If your loved one has an infection that has progressed to the stage of sepsis, a caregiver may have ignored or under-treated one or more of these symptoms for some period of time.
Once sepsis sets in, your loved one may show exaggerated or new symptoms of the infection. These symptoms, according to Healthline, may include:
- Extreme fatigue and weakness.
- Your loved one losing consciousness.
- A fever that rises above 101 degrees Fahrenheit.
- An accelerated heartbeat, usually greater than 90 beats per minute, which remains extremely unsafe for an elderly person who already has a heightened risk of cardiovascular problems.
- Your loved one breathing at a rate faster than 20 breaths per minute.
- Apparent confusion or changes in your loved one’s mental state.
- Discoloration of the skin, especially if it happens in a patchy pattern.
Medical professionals deal with sepsis with formal training, and hopefully, your loved one received the care necessary to reverse the symptoms of sepsis. Consider moving them to a temporary or permanent location other than where they developed sepsis. You can always call a lawyer to help you determine your legal options.
A Berwyn Sepsis Lawyer May Help You Investigate the Cause of Your Loved One’s Sepsis
Sepsis may result from poor standards of care in the nursing home where your loved one lived when they developed an infection. A Berwyn sepsis lawyer may assist you with the earliest steps in any legal case, which involves investigating any potential sources of negligence and figuring out who may bear liability for your loved one’s compromised health.
Possible defendants may include:
- Doctors who failed to recognize, diagnose, and properly treat any infection or other condition that caused your loved one to develop sepsis.
- Nurses or other medical professionals who did not do their jobs properly.
- Administrators at the nursing home where your loved one developed the infection, as they may bear responsibility for errors by their subordinates, as well as the general systems of care in the nursing home.
- Anybody else who put your loved one’s health at risk.
Nursing homes that lack accountable leadership and excellent care for residents can present many hazards to your loved one’s health, sepsis included. Call our team at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm today to find out how you may be able to hold those responsible for your loved one’s sepsis.
Liability for Sepsis Flows from The Top
Administrators in the positions with the greatest amount of power also have a high degree of responsibility. When a patient such as your loved one develops sepsis, you can question the overall safety of a nursing home. This may entail asking questions such as:
- What systems did the nursing home administration put in place to prevent infections that could lead to sepsis?
- How frequently do caregivers monitor patients, such as your loved one, for infections and other serious medical conditions?
- What steps do caregivers take to identify and treat your loved one’s sepsis?
- Are caregivers qualified, skilled, and caring? How do administrators vet their employees?
- How do the ratios of doctors, nurses, and other caregivers compare to their patient pool in the nursing home where your loved one’s sepsis occurred?
You have a right to ask these questions, and they can help prove that your loved one lived in an overall environment of substandard care in their former nursing home. If a jury finds that substandard care caused your loved one’s infection that led to sepsis, then your loved one may qualify for compensation covering their losses.
A Berwyn Sepsis Lawyer May Fight for Compensation on Your Loved One’s Behalf
If a lawyer can prove that the nursing home and its employees acted in a negligent way that compromised your loved one’s safety, they may collect awards covering:
- The cost of any treatment that resulted from substandard care, including but not limited to medical bills related to the sepsis.
- The cost of your loved one’s time living in a nursing home where the negligence occurred.
- The physical, psychological, and emotional anguish that resulted from the sepsis episode and any other negligence that occurred under the defendants’ care.
Your loved one may qualify for additional compensation based on the details of their case.
For a free legal consultation with a Sepsis Lawyer serving Berwyn, call (800) 794-0444
Call Our Team at Pintas & Mullins Law Firm
You pay nothing upfront or out of pocket, and the consultation remains completely free. Call a Berwyn sepsis lawyer today to speak about your case. We take on tough cases and may fight for compensation on your loved one’s behalf while helping protect your loved one from any further harm.
Call or text (800) 794-0444 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
