MRSA / Hospital Acquired Infection Litigation
Thousands of patients each year contract serious infections – often fatal – while they are hospitalized or treated at other health care facilities. The Las Vegas Sun has been reporting about how the incidence of hospital acquired infections is on the rise in Las Vegas.
Nationally, a study released in October 2007 found that an estimated 94,360 patients annually in the United States develop an invasive infection and nearly one in five, or 18,650, die as a result. The number of deaths exceeds those caused by HIV/AIDS or homicides each year.
If you or someone you love contracted a hospital infection that resulted in serious illness, injury or death, you may want to contact us today.
The national study looked at cases of methacillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, or MRSA, a virulent drug-resistant bacteria. It found that 85 percent of invasive infections were associated with health care treatment, including those contracted at hospitals and nursing homes. The study confirmed previous research that indicated long-term care centers are "breeding grounds" for infection. Concern has also grown that MRSA, also known as the "superbug," has spread to other community-based facilities, such as schools and gyms. Schools in Bedford County, Virginia, closed after a student there died of a staph infection. (Full story.)
Hospitals are also seeing an increase in the infection Clostridium difficile, known as C-diff, which can cause severe intestinal illnesses. In one study, hospitals reported a greater incidence of C-diff than MRSA. And C-diff, which is also resistant to many antibiotics, is spread by feces spores that are impervious to most conventional cleaners and even alcohol-based hand sanitizers that can eliminate MRSA threats. Although MRSA is generally considered more dangerous because it can prove fatal, recent reports note that a more dangerous, and sometimes fatal, form of C-diff has emerged in the last decade. (Learn more about C-diff)
The national study included 168 hospitals and was conducted by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, an independent state agency, and included 1.6 million patient hospitalizations. The survey looked at four types of hospital infections. They were bloodstream infections from IVs, ventilator-associated pneumonia, urinary tract infections from catheters and infections at surgical sites. (Click here to read an article about the survey.)
The survey looked at four types of hospital infections. They were bloodstream infections from IVs, ventilator-associated pneumonia, urinary tract infections from catheters and infections at surgical sites.
The council's executive director, Marc P. Volavka, was quoted in The Philadelphia Inquirer as saying that "every patient that enters a hospital is at risk for a hospital-acquired infection. He said such infections are the result of "flawed processes" of care and hygiene. Indeed, a major cause of infection was noted as poor hand washing by hospital personnel.
Watch an interview with Jacob Hafter, Esq. about MRSA infections in Las Vegas.
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