MRSA - Too Many People Get Sick In Hospitals
As a Delaware medical malpractice attorney, I believe it's only a matter of time before a patient in Delaware sues a hospital because he came down with a MRSA infection. These cases are showing up around the country. For example, a Dallas jury has awarded $17.5 million in damages to a man who had to have both of his arms and both of his legs amputated because of a hospital-acquired MRSA infection. The sad thing is that MRSA infections are preventable if proper care is taken. Even worse is the fact that most MRSA infections occur in hospitals or other health care settings, such as nursing homes and dialysis centers. Here’s an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal article which appeared least month:
“Too many patients get sick in the very places that are supposed to heal them. The facts are frightening: As many as one in 10 patients hospitalized in the U.S. will come down with an infection - often due to the very care that is supposed to be restoring health. These infections afflict nearly two million patients a year, cause close to 100,000 deaths and cost up to $6.5 billion.”
Actually, in the U.S., more people die each year from MRSA than from AIDS.
MRSA symptoms can range from mild infections on the skin which cause pimples or boils, to more serious skin infections and infections of surgical wounds, the bloodstream, the lungs, or the urinary tract. It's tougher to treat than most strains of staph because it's resistant to commonly used antibiotics.
If you or a family member came down with a MRSA infection as a result of a hospital stay, you should contact a Delaware attorney to find out whether you are entitled to receive money damages to pay for such things as medical bills, nursing care, loss of income, and pain and suffering.
