(Below is an Excellent Medical Malpractice Law Article by David Caldwell. This Article was approved by Rhode Island Personal Injury Attorney, David Slepkow.)

A hospital needs to provide several services for expecting families. In particular, healthcare workers need to keep the maternity ward properly sterilized and maintain a higher quality of care while around newborns. Although, obviously, a mistake involving an adult patient can have grave consequences, a simple mistake such as carrying in the flu after touching an infected patient can be life-threatening for an infant. Post-natal infections, possibly linked to the healthcare standards of the hospital, can prove extremely serious.

Keeping a hospital relatively sterile is a major problem with today’s healthcare facilities. With fewer staff members and more patients, many facilities may rush through the cleaning of instruments and linens. Exposure to infection can then come from these materials entering into the maternity ward and being used around a newborn child.

Rhode Island Medical Malpractice Law Posts posted by RI Personal Injury Law Attorney, David Slepkow:

If the child required emergency care due to a complication during birth, surgical utensils need to be properly sterilized before use. In addition, as the child recovers from the surgery, affected areas may be prone to infection. This means, with the already reduced immunities of the infant, those who undergo surgery must be treated with extreme care.

One of the most dangerous infections that can affect an infant is the development of sepsis. This condition occurs when an infection reaches the child’s bloodstream, causing each of the body’s major systems to go through a wide-scale inflammation. Under this kind of stress, the body may not be able to sustain itself, leading to damage to the liver, kidneys, and heart. This condition is directly tied to mistakes made during surgery, most notably with unclean tools being used.

Other infections can be linked to poor post-natal care, including influenza and meningitis. Although an adult immune system can handle most strains of flu, an infant is not at all prepared for this kind of disease.

To learn more about a family’s legal options if a child has been harmed by a doctor’s negligence, contact a birth injury attorney.

Article Authored by : By David S Caldwell