Every visit to a hospital or medical clinic brings with it an inherent danger of hospital acquired infection. Statistics show that one in twenty patients visiting a hospital will acquire some type of infection as a result of the visit. Worse yet, there is a very real possibility of that infection leading to death.
Hospital acquired infections, also known as nosocomial infections, result in somewhere between 17,000 and 70,000 deaths annually in the United States.
Causes of Infection
There are three fundamental factors that must be present for an infection to take hold:
Pathogen or Bacterium
First, there must be some type of infectious agent present. In a hospital setting, this is not difficult to find. Hospitals, by virtue of their service, are filled with people suffering from illness and are potentially carriers for an infectious agent to spread to others.
Method of Transfer
The next factor is the agent that transfers the infection or pathogen from one patient to another. Commonly, the transfer will be caused by hospital staff failing to wash their hands and change gloves in between patients.
A Susceptible Immune System
Obviously, people visiting a hospital are likely not to be in great health. When fighting and injury or illness, a patient’s immune system is weakened and proves an easy target for a pathogen to invade.
Hospital Responsibility
Every hospital is well aware of the risks that hospital acquired infections (also called nosocomial infections) pose to the well-being of admitted patients. It is critical that hospital staff take all appropriate measures to minimize the chance of an infection being allowed to spread amongst patients.
Additionally, doctors and other hospital staff must be cognizant of symptoms occurring in patients in order to provide proper treatment early enough to prevent injury to the patient.
Liability for Damages
If a patient contracts a nosocomial infection as a result of a hospitals failure to provide hygienic treatment and the infection is allowed to spread and cause further injury, then the hospital may be held liable.
A medical malpractice lawyer can offer advice to patients injured by hospital acquired infection, regarding their rights to pursue a lawsuit against the hospital for all damages.
