Necrotising fasciitis is a medical emergency. This means it must be treated shortly after the onset of symptoms, or life-threatening complications will arise.
Necrotising fasciitis
Necrotising fasciitis is an aggressive bacterial infection that spreads very quickly.
The bacteria get inside the body through a break in the skin and start to multiply. While reproducing, they release a toxin that damages the tissue, disrupting the blood supply. Within a short space of time, the tissue will be so deficient in blood and oxygen that it dies. In medical terms, this is called tissue necrosis.
The bacteria will continue to multiply, creating an ever-increasing area of necrotic tissue. All of this dead tissue must be surgically removed. It is therefore essential that the condition is diagnosed and treated before too large an area becomes infected, or the consequences could be devastating.
Why is necrotising fasciitis a medical emergency?
If there is a delay, a large area of tissue will die and all of this will ultimately have to be removed. This may be so extensive that an entire limb must be amputated. The infection may also get into the bloodstream, and this can lead to septic shock and organ failure. These complications can occur incredibly quickly – sometimes within hours of the bacteria entering the body.
The only way to avoid these life-threatening complications is to treat the condition in the early stages. This should involve intravenous antibiotics and the surgical debridement of the dead tissue. The provision of timely treatment is of course dependent upon a timely diagnosis. If medical practitioners fail to diagnose the condition quickly enough, treatment in the early stages will be withheld and a patient will become critically unwell.
A patient can become critically unwell within days of the onset of symptoms. It is for this reason that necrotising fasciitis is a medical emergency.
Failure to diagnose and treat necrotising fasciitis
If medical professionals fail to diagnose and treat necrotising fasciitis in a prompt manner, resulting in serious complications, there could be grounds for a medical negligence claim.
This is because any reasonably competent medical practitioner should be able to recognise the clinical signs of an infection and carry out further diagnostic tests. Once diagnosed, medical practitioners should appreciate the urgency with which treatment is needed and proceed straight to surgery.
A failure to provide this level of care will amount to a substandard level of medical practice. If this causes a patient to suffer unnecessary injury, there will be a case of medical negligence.
If your necrotising fasciitis was not treated as a medical emergency, please get in touch with us today to discuss your options.
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