C.diff Infection and Hospital Liability

Clostridium difficile, or C. diff, is a bacterium in the intestines that leads to diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, loss of appetite and nausea as well as serious intestinal conditions like colitis. Such serious intestinal conditions like sepsis, colitis, and in rare cases death are the result of a C. diff infection. Surprisingly, C. diff infection, often referred to as CDI, is primarily healthcare-related. In fact, approximately eighty percent of C. diff infection cases are associated with healthcare.

Patients with C. diff experience a nine point five percent death rate, yet the general public remains largely uninformed of this hospital epidemic. However, recent media attention, such as articles published in the AARP periodical, is raising the awareness level.

The bacterium that causes C. diff infection is found in feces. Hospital patients who touch surfaces that have been contaminated with feces, and then touch their mouths or mucous surfaces may become ill. This is the reason good hand hygiene is vital for health care professionals in preventing the spread of such disease. Health care workers who are taking care of patients with a C. diff associated disease must wash their hands with soap and water instead of an alcohol-based hand rub, which is useless against this type of spore-forming bacteria.

Reports indicate that the C. diff epidemic grows by around ten percent each year. It became four times more lethal in just five years from 1999 to 2004. In 2004, the death rate increased to 23.7 per million Americans. Data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality states that the hospital C. diff infection rate increased by two hundred percent from 2000 to 2005.

Health care workers may carry C. diff on their hands, which can spread to other patients through things, such as hospital beds and equipment. C. diff forms spores that cannot be killed by alcohol hand sanitizers. However, bleach can destroy them. The bug can also be picked up and spread around on the long sleeves of lab coats.

Until just a little while ago, infection was considered an inevitable risk that patients had to face if they were hospitalized. That has all changed now. Now evidence indicates that the majority of hospital infections are preventable if doctors and hospital staff clean their hands properly and take other infection prevention measures. This puts hospitals in a different legal situation. The assumption of unavoidable infections protected hospitals from liability for decades, but not anymore.

The majority of C. diff victims who decide to sue for malpractice will not be able to prove exactly how they were infected by the bacteria during hospitalization. However, that soon may not matter. The juries will be told the hospital failed to impose hygiene rules and practice proper infection prevention, pinning hospitals with negligence and liability for patient infections.

If you or a loved one has suffered from a hospital-borne C. diff infection you have legal rights; contact a qualified attorney immediately to have your case evaluated. He or she will be able to lead you in the right legal direction.