What Is Sepsis Negligence?

Sepsis, also known as blood poisoning, is a life-threatening medical condition that occurs when the body’s response to infection leads to widespread inflammation. 

The UK Sepsis Trust states that there are at least 245,000 sepsis cases in the UK each year. Detecting sepsis early, along with prompt treatment is crucial in preventing serious complications, which include tissue damage, organ failure, and death. 

Despite this, if healthcare providers fail to diagnose or treat sepsis promptly, the consequences can be severe. This failure to provide appropriate care is known as sepsis negligence. 

Sepsis negligence falls under clinical negligence, a legal term used when a healthcare professional’s actions do not meet the accepted standard of care, causing harm to the patient. 

What Is Sepsis?

Sepsis occurs when the body’s immune system has an excessive reaction to an infection, which injures the body’s own organs and tissues. This can cause shock, systemic organ failure, or fatalities, particularly if the symptoms aren’t identified early and treated in good time. 

Sepsis can affect any individual who has an infection or injury, but it has a greater chance of affecting some groups of people more than others. This includes people who are pregnant, very young, elderly, or live with additional health conditions. 

Sepsis symptoms include:

• Slurring of speech
• Confusion
• Extreme breathlessness
• Muscle pain or excess shivering
• Not passing urine in a day
• Mottled or discoloured skin

Sepsis is a medical emergency, where recognising its symptoms early is vital to ensuring timely treatment and preventing life-threatening complications. 

How Can Medical Negligence Lead To Sepsis?

Sepsis can develop or get worse as a result of clinical negligence. 

If healthcare professionals fail to meet expected care standards, this can result in missed warning signs, delayed diagnosis, or incorrect treatment, which can all contribute to the progression of sepsis. 

Here are some examples of how medical negligence can cause consequences for sepsis patients. 

1. Poor Staff Training

There may be cases where medical providers aren’t suitably trained to identify or manage sepsis. This lack of knowledge can cause delayed diagnosis, improper treatment, and failure to increase care when necessary. Inadequate training can also cause poor communication between medical teams, resulting in critical oversights. 

For example, nurses have a crucial role in detecting physical symptoms that could indicate the onset of sepsis. However, if nurses are unfamiliar with common sepsis screening and prognostic tools, as seen from this study, this lack of familiarity can result in missed opportunities for early intervention. 

Proper training and observing clinical guidelines are crucial to prevent clinical negligence errors. 

2. Delayed Sepsis Diagnosis

Delayed sepsis diagnosis is failing to recognise the early signs of sepsis. Symptoms like a rapid heart rate, confusion, shortness of breath, or a high fever require immediate medical intervention, but may be misdiagnosed as symptoms of a different condition.

Early diagnosis is essential as a delayed diagnosis can cause the sepsis infection to spread and progress into septic shock. This is the last, most serious form of sepsis, making it the hardest to treat. 

3. Misdiagnosis

Sepsis can be misdiagnosed as its symptoms resemble different illnesses, like viral infections or the flu. This leads to incorrect treatment, like prescribing antivirals instead of antibiotics or overlooking important signs like a rapid heartbeat or low blood pressure. 

The consequences of sepsis misdiagnosis include:

• Delay in prescribing necessary medication
• Delays in referring patients to appropriate specialists
• Poor treatment response to dehydration or shock
• Failing to monitor crucial markers, like blood count or serum lactate levels

Misdiagnosis can result in a failure to initiate life-saving interventions within the critical window for sepsis treatment. The longer sepsis is left untreated, the greater the risk of multiple organ failure, septic shock, or death. 

4. Failure to Administer Correct Treatment

After sepsis is diagnosed, timely and proper treatment is essential. Sepsis patients often require intensive care in a hospital, as they may need life-saving interventions to support heart and breathing function. 

A variety of different medications are used to treat sepsis and septic shock, including vasopressors, intravenous fluids, and antibiotics. Surgery may be necessary to remove pus, as well as infected or dead tissue.

Delays in administering treatment can cause the condition to escalate, which can lead to severe organ damage, limb amputations, or death. Incorrect treatment protocols, like administering incorrect antibiotics or poor fluid resuscitation, can worsen the situation and decrease the likelihood of survival. 

5. Insufficient Patient Monitoring

Close monitoring is crucial once a patient has been diagnosed with sepsis. Medical providers need to track vital signs, including blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen levels, and lactate levels to evaluate a patient’s response to treatment. Failure to do so can lead to a missed detection of worsening sepsis or the onset of sepsis shock. 

Continuous monitoring allows for timely changes in treatment, while poor monitoring can result in preventable patient decline, potentially requiring more intensive interventions or resulting in life-threatening outcomes. 

How To Make A Claim For Sepsis Negligence

If you or a loved one has suffered due to sepsis negligence, you may be entitled to make a legal compensation claim. You typically have three years from the date of your diagnosis, or the day you became aware that sepsis led to your illness, to file a claim. 

To file a claim, you must have a valid reason to believe that negligence played a role in the implications of the sepsis. Compensation may cover treatment costs, loss of earnings, emotional and physical damages, or future care costs.  

However, various factors will be assessed when seeking compensation, including the severity of the symptoms, whether the sepsis resulted in the need for intensive care, or if the negligence itself led to the patient’s death. 

Aim to collect as much evidence as possible, like documentation that verifies incorrect treatment was given, diagnosis was delayed, or any complaints you made were overlooked. An experienced solicitor can assess your case, help you gather important evidence, and guide you through the legal process. 

How We Can Help

At Harding Evans, we understand the impact that sepsis negligence can have on you or your loved ones. 

Our team of clinical negligence solicitors can help you manage the complexities of your claim and advise on the best course of action. 

Contact us today to discuss your circumstances in more detail.