Necrotising fasciitis is a fast-spreading infection which has a high mortality rate. What should the medical response be?
A medical emergency
The short answer to the title question is: yes, necrotising fasciitis is most definitely a medical emergency.
Any patient who is suspected of developing a necrotising infection warrants immediate investigation.
Any delay may lead to the need for surgical removal of significant amounts of body tissue even to the point of amputation. At worst, the result could be fatal.
What is an Emergency Response?
- As soon as the patient is suspected of suffering from necrotising fasciitis, they should be given intravenous antibiotics. However, this alone will not halt the infection
- If necrotising fasciitis has been diagnosed or even if there is a high suspicion of it, the patient ideally needs to undergo surgical debridement of all affected tissue within twelve hours in order to achieve the best outcome – both in terms of survival but also in terms of the extent of debridement necessary.
- It is likely that further debridement procedures will be necessary over the next few days until all sign of infection has gone and all damaged body tissue has been removed
- The patient will require close monitoring for signs of organ dysfunction
- It is likely that the patient will need to be treated in an intensive care unit due to the likely impact on organ function
Symptoms of developing necrotising fasciitis
It is likely that someone who is developing necrotising fasciitis will have experienced a wound to the surface of the skin, however minor. This may be a cut or graze or it may be a surgical incision during the course of a medical procedure.
The patient is likely to be experiencing severe and intense pain in the region of their cut along with redness and swelling in that area. They may have a high temperature.
If the patient begins to deteriorate, their blood pressure may drop and they may become confused as well as feeling nauseous or vomiting.
Patients undergoing surgical procedures in hospital are obviously vulnerable to such infection and a post-operative patient developing these symptoms requires immediate investigation.
Medical Negligence
It can be seen that necrotising fasciitis is a catastrophic condition even when the patient survives. It is vital, therefore, that symptoms of this condition are acted on with urgency.
A failure to recognise or act on the symptoms of necrotising fasciitis may warrant a claim for compensation if the patient.
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