Surgical procedures, misdiagnosed or undiagnosed medical conditions, or other injuries could result in you contracting an infection. If allowed to progress without treatment, the infection could ultimately turn into sepsis and then septic shock.
Medical staff may send you home with the impression that nothing is wrong with you. Then, your condition seems to keep deteriorating. When you finally go to the emergency room or see your doctor, you discover that you suffer from sepsis and end up in the intensive care unit on strong antibiotics.
You may be able to avoid this scenario
If you know the symptoms of sepsis, you may be able to get to the hospital before you need to spend time in the ICU. If you suspect something isn’t right, it might not be. If you have had an infection you just can’t seem to shake, look for the following symptoms:
- If your infection spreads and you develop other symptoms such as fever or fatigue
- If your body temperature is higher than normal (fever) or lower than normal (hypothermia)
- If you suffer severe body aches, pains and discomfort that feel like the worst you ever experienced
- If you become sleepy, confused or suffer some other mental decline
If your doctor fails to take your symptoms seriously, you may find yourself needing to insist that additional testing occur. The sooner you receive treatment, the better your prognosis and recovery may be.
Once you recover, you may want to do a bit more research regarding how you ended up in this situation. It’s possible that the doctors that attended to you made one or more mistakes that led to you suffering from sepsis. If a review of the situation supports that hypothesis, you may be able to pursue compensation to cover your outstanding medical bills, any future medical bills and other financial losses you incurred as a result of your sepsis.
You may need some support
Knowing how to determine whether medical malpractice may have occurred is not an easy task. For one, you will need the help of a qualified physician to review the medical records and other evidence. In addition, the laws surrounding medical malpractice claims can be complex. You would more than likely benefit from discussing the matter with a Texas attorney experienced in these claims.