If you or your loved one has suffered harm because necrotising fasciitis was mistaken for another condition, you could be entitled to pursue a medical negligence claim. To find out if you can pursue legal action, please do not hesitate to contact us today.
Misdiagnosis of necrotizing fasciitis
Necrotising fasciitis is a severe subcutaneous tissue infection. Subcutaneous tissue infections are difficult to diagnose, particularly as a patient often appears well in the early stages, complaining simply of a pain that has no obvious cause.
Consequently necrotising fasciitis may be wrongly diagnosed by medical practitioners who mistake the early symptoms for another condition.
For example, synergistic necrotizing cellulitis is a similar condition but can involve the muscles. Onset is acute and the pain is severe, just like necrotising fasciitis. It has an incubation period of 3 to 14 days and creates scattered area of skin necrosis and thin brown foul-smelling pus.
Another differential diagnosis is non-clostridial anaerobic cellulitis which occurs after the introduction of anaerobic bacteria into the buttocks and lower limbs. Onset can be either rapid or gradual, but pain and toxicity are not prominent. A thin dark foul-smelling discharge develops often with gas in the tissues. There is minimal discoloration of the skin.
In the very early stages, a patient might be wrongly diagnosed with influenza, as medical practitioners may be thrown off course by the presence of a severe fever.
What happens if necrotising fasciitis is wrongly diagnosed?
If necrotising fasciitis is not accurately diagnosed, the patient will not receive the treatment he/she so desperately needs. Indeed, necrotising fasciitis requires immediate administration of intravenous antibiotics and urgent surgical debridement of the dead tissue.
Without this treatment, the infection will continue to travel across the body, eventually reaching the bloodstream. This is called sepsis and can quickly result in multi-organ failure and death. In fact, the mortality rate of necrotising fasciitis patients that do not have antibiotics and debridement is close to 100%.
Will medical practitioners be blamed?
If necrotising fasciitis is misdiagnosed, significantly delaying treatment, it is very possible that medical professionals will be at fault. If so, the patient (or their family) will be legally entitled to pursue legal action against the negligent parties. This will enable the victim to obtain financial compensation for the physical, emotional and financial injuries that have been wrongfully incurred.
To talk to a solicitor about claiming for necrotising fasciitis, please get in touch with us today.
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