If a hospital ward is not cleaned sufficiently, the patients will be at risk of contracting a hospital acquired infection.
Hospital acquired infections
There are different types of hospital acquired infection. MRSA is probably the most well-known and is often dubbed a hospital ‘superbug’. C Difficile is another frequent illness contracted by hospital patients. Perhaps lesser well-known is a hospital acquired infection called necrotising fasciitis.
Like MRSA and C Diff, necrotising fasciitis can affect anyone, including those who have not recently visited hospital. However, hospital patients are at a far greater risk of developing the infection because their immune systems are weakened. There is also more opportunity for the bacteria to enter the body – for example, through a cannula or a surgical wound.
Necrotising fasciitis from an unclean hospital ward
Hospital acquired infections such as necrotising fasciitis are much more likely to occur if the ward is unclean. It is therefore essential that hospitals maintain rigorous hygiene standards, as a single infection can spread to hundreds of patients.
Sadly such standards are not always achieved, and some patients have described dirty bed sheets, cubicles that are not cleaned and unsanitary conditions. If poor hygiene does directly cause a patient to develop necrotising fasciitis, the care provided will be considered substandard. Because this has caused a patient to suffer wrongfully injury, there will theoretically be grounds for a medical negligence compensation claim.
Nevertheless, proving that necrotising fasciitis occurred because of poor cleanliness can be difficult to prove. A solicitor will be able to advise whether or not you can make a claim based upon poor sanitary conditions.
Necrotising fasciitis claims
On the other hand, there will almost definitely be a claim if a patient contracts necrotising fasciitis in hospital, but the illness is not diagnosed and treated in a timely fashion. Normally this happens because a patient’s symptoms are overlooked and it is not until the infection is advanced that the problem is noticed.
If medical professionals fail to realise that a patient has developed necrotising fasciitis and this causes them unnecessary injury, there will be grounds for a medical negligence compensation claim.
Get in touch
To find out if you can make a claim for necrotising fasciitis, please get in touch with us today. We specialises in necrotising fasciitis claims and will be able to suggest whether or not you have been the innocent victim of medical error. If so we will pursue a compensation claim on your behalf.
Please call us now on 0800 234 3300 (or from a mobile click to call 01275 334030) or complete our Free Online Enquiry with us today.
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Call us now on 0800 234 3300 (or from a mobile 01275 334030) or complete our Free Online Enquiry.