Sepsis

Sepsis is a life-threatening response to infection in which the body’s immune reaction damages its own tissues and organs. It is among the most common conditions at the heart of Ontario medical malpractice claims, in part because sepsis is reversible if recognized early and devastating if it progresses to septic shock or multi-organ failure. Common allegations in sepsis cases include failure to recognize early warning signs, failure to initiate empirical antibiotics within the appropriate window, failure to obtain blood cultures and other source-identifying investigations, failure to escalate care to a higher acuity setting, and failure to manage the underlying source of infection.

The standard of care in sepsis recognition and management is informed by the international Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines and by hospital-level sepsis protocols, although both function as background only. In litigation, the actual standard is proven through expert evidence and is calibrated to the clinical setting in which the patient presented. An emergency department triage nurse is not held to the same standard as an intensive care physician, but each is held to the standard of a reasonable practitioner in their own role.

Posts tagged Sepsis analyze Ontario decisions involving missed, delayed, or mismanaged sepsis, including pediatric and post-operative presentations.