Be Careful When Going to the Hospital. You Might Get Sick.
Posted November 6th, 2015 by Anthony Carbone, PC.
Categories: Personal Injury.
On a normal basis, most of us avoid the hospital. Not only is it a place where sick people got to get better, but it’s a pretty depressing place. But there are times when we have to go, especially after an accident. And in some cases, when getting out of the hospital, we can be sicker than we were going in.
Hospital infections are actually more common than you would think. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a 2011 survey had found that one in 25 hospital patients had at least one healthcare-associated infection. That means there was an estimated 722,000 hospital infections in U.S. hospitals for 2011. Of those infections, approximately 75,000 patients had died because of the infection.
It’s a scary thought. Hospitals are considered to be somewhat sterile environments. How are these infections caused? Besides the obvious – receiving an infection from another patient – one way that these infections are spread is the conditions of the hospital. Perhaps the conditions aren’t as clean as you thought they were. Or, it could come from the hospital staff not following proper procedures. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 40 percent of hospital infections are caused by poor hand hygiene by hospital staff (i.e. failure to wash hands, wear gloves, don’t use antibacterial products, etc.).
If you receive an infection after visiting the hospital, you may be entitled to compensation with the help of a medical malpractice attorney. For more than 26 years, the Law Offices of Anthony Carbone has been helping patients with their cases. If this happens to you, contact us today for a free consultation.
