We’re at our most vulnerable when placing our lives in the hands of healthcare professionals in hospitals, surgical centers, nursing homes, and other facilities. During an injury, illness, or serious medical condition, a patient has no choice but to trust that their medical team and care providers will uphold their legal duty of care, not only to provide an accurate diagnosis and skilled treatment, but also to adhere to basic safety protocols to ensure that treatment is delivered in a sanitized environment with sterile implements and devices. Unfortunately, when a hospital cuts corners, deviates from sterlization protocols, or fails to uphold the core fundamentals of infection prevention, the results can be dangerous or even deadly.
If your loved one has suffered or died due to a preventable hospital-acquired infection, consulting a Phoenix medical malpractice lawyer can help you understand your legal rights, seek justice, and pursue financial compensation for the harm caused by negligent infection control practices.
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Fatal Infection Due to Unsterile Conditions
Understanding Core Infection Prevention Protocols In Medical Institutions
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describes a medical facility’s requirement to follow infection protocols as:
“…essential to providing safe and high-quality patient care across all settings where healthcare is delivered.”
The CDC warns that the success of infection prevention protocols in hospitals and other facilities depends on support from hospital leadership at all levels. Core practices for preventing infections in healthcare settings include the following:
- Ensuring accountability from facility administrators
- The sufficient allocation of materials, employees, and other resources to ensure appropriate and consistent preventative methods and prompt infection mitigation occurs as needed
- Assigning an appropriate number of well-qualified staff members to oversee the institution’s infection prevention program and training
- Sanctioning and supporting those tasked with managing the facility’s infection prevention program with appropriate resources and authority to reinforce effectiveness
- Providing continuing education requirements and opportunities for staff
- Providing current, effective written infection prevention policies and procedures to all staff members
- Monitoring staff performance and give appropriate feedback
- Providing family members and caregivers with appropriate infection prevention information at discharge
Hospitals and health and long-term care facilities must use standard precautions for infection prevention in preparing and maintaining the environment, sterilizing equipment, hand hygiene, injection safety, and minimizing patient exposure.
The Dangers of Unsterilized Medical Equipment and Surfaces
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a growing concern in medical facilities despite stringent safety protocols. According to the CDC, about 1 in 31 hospitalized patients has at least 1 HAI. Over 35,000 deaths occur in hospitals due to fatal infections, costing more than $4.6 billion per year.
One of the most common causes of serious and sometimes fatal infections in hospital settings is unsterilized medical equipment and surfaces. When facilities fail to clean and sanitize equipment properly, the following key infection-causing dangers occur:
- Microbe development begins on medical instruments or surfaces.
- Bacterial biofilm forms on medical instruments or surfaces, creating a protective layer that’s difficult to remove.
- Cross-contamination occurs when other medical devices come in contact with a contaminated device, unsanitized surfaces, or contaminated hands.
- Penetration of the body barrier occurs when a medical tool comes in contact with a patient’s surgical site, wound, or mucosal lining.
- The patient develops an infection due to the bacteria introduced into their body by the contaminated medical device.
Regular inspection, proper sterilization practices, and strict adherence to sanitation protocols help protect patients from serious, life-threatening infections.
Which Institutions Must Follow CDC Protocols for Preventing Fatal Infections From Unsterile Conditions?
The CDC warns that both inpatient facilities and outpatient healthcare institutions must follow rigid protocols to prevent the spread of infections that result in the need for powerful antibiotics, more invasive treatment, and sometimes patient fatality. The protocols for sterlizing equipment and other requirements for sterile conditions must be implemented in the following settings:
- Hospitals
- Surgical centers
- Clinics
- Urgent care centers
- Dialysis centers
- Imaging centers
- Nursing homes
- Assisted living facilities
- Physical therapy and rehabilitation centers
- Pharmacies
What Dangerous Infections are Spread by Unsterile Conditions?
One of the most common dangerous infections spread in medical and long-term care facilities is Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Healthcare-associated MRSA, or HA-MRSA, is often spread through invasive procedures, such as catheterization, surgery, surgical drains, and intravenous tubing.
Unfortunately, MRSA has become increasingly resistant to the common antibiotics used to treat infections. MRSA infections occur frequently in nursing homes and long-term care facilities due to the lowered immunity of elderly residents.
In addition to MRSA infections, those in hospitals and long-term care facilities are vulnerable to other types of infections spread by unsterile conditions, including respiratory infections (pneumonia), Clostridioides difficile (C. diff), Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE), Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), surgical site infections, and gastroenteritis.
Viral and fungal infections also spread in clinical environments due to unsterile conditions and cross-contamination.
What Is Sepsis From Hospital Infections?
When an infection isn’t promptly diagnosed and effectively treated, it can trigger a deadly reaction known as sepsis. Sepsis is the most common cause of fatal infection deaths in hospitals and long-term care settings. Sepsis was once called blood poisoning, under the mistaken assumption that an infection elsewhere in the body spread to the blood and poisoned the infected person. Now, sepsis is understood to be the body’s deadly overreaction to infection.
When the body recognizes a dangerous infection, it triggers cytokines to attack the bacteria or virus that has invaded the body—Cytokines work by generating inflammation within the cells. Unfortunately, the body sometimes triggers a massive cytokine response, known as a “cytokine storm.” The overinflammation that results begins killing healthy cells as well as bacteria or viruses. Eventually, cell death leads to organ failure, often beginning with the kidneys and moving on to the heart and brain.
Other Lethal Infections Caused by Unsterile Conditions In Hospitals
While sepsis is the most common cause of infection-related hospital deaths, sometimes infections cause non-sepsis-related deaths. An infection can become lethal when it overwhelms an organ, leading to its shutdown. Although sepsis is a body-wide reaction, a localized infection can be deadly when it occurs in a critical organ, such as the lungs or brain, or when it spreads from one organ, such as the appendix, to a life-sustaining organ.
How Can an Arizona Medical Malpractice Attorney Help Me?
When a hospital-acquired infection results in a loved one’s death, it causes extreme anguish to loved ones who understand that the death was preventable by strict adherence to infection-preventing protocols to create sterile tools and environment.
Although no legal process can reverse the loss of a beloved family member, a medical malpractice-wrongful death case relieves the financial consequences of the death and provides families with a sense of justice. If you lost a close family member due to unsterile conditions and a hospital-acquired infection, call Knapp & Roberts for the assertive, compassionate legal advocacy your family deserves.