The causes of death are so complex and not everyone can call for an autopsy if you question the cause...you will be met with mute and silence as I was..after brother died having some sort of infection that went to his head after finding him unconscious on the floor..taking him to emergency finding 9 brain absesses..possibly after a broncosopy?..bloodbourne?with pneumonia,sinus infec., headaches for a year and a half I take responsibility for some of this but he was seeing three Doctors...not an infectious desease doc. or neuro. doc. too late he died from the impossible operation to nine absesses all over the head...too late..but why?...was something missed?....i really do not understand why these docs refuse to communicate....i still dont know why my brother died at 69 yrs old by that time he was sickly and tired taking care of his 97 yr old dad..in the same room with my taking him 3 days after to hospital with a UTI.....contaminated room with the two...who knows you cannot keep a sick patient in the same quarters of course why did the doc send brother home anyway...no ct head scan? so point here infections are deadly and can attack the BODY in many ways..no antibiotics were ever given until too late as BA require empirical antibiotics before operation...................
If sepsis kills 100,000 to 300,000 a year, and the flu killed 60,000 +/_ last year why are we not putting attention to save these lives as we are doing the caronavirus?
SEPSIS is a horrible infection ,EVERYONE should know and understand about this infection .People should also know how DANGEROUS even the smallest bed soar or ,pressure soar OR any type of an infection with an Elderly person ,or immune compromised individual, can turn into a BIG problem ...NO BEDS SOAR should be dismissed EVER if a bed soar is treated before it gets past the 1st stage many problems can be avoided..I always try to get my opinion out about this subject .Bed Soars are very dangerous so never ever Ignore a bed soar ever ,the soar may look ok from the outside but could be tunneling from the inside out so never underestimate the seriousness .
What I mean by tunneling is that the tissue under Bed Soars can be dyeing without any suspicion so that dead tissue will cause a infection maybe turning into sepsis.
SEPSIS is a horrible infection ,EVERYONE should know and understand about this infection .People should also know how DANGEROUS even the smallest bed soar or ,pressure soar OR any type of an infection with an Elderly person ,or immune compromised individual, can turn into a BIG problem ...NO BEDS SOAR should be dismissed EVER if a bed soar is treated before it gets past the 1st stage many problems can be avoided..I always try to get my opinion out about this subject .Bed Soars are very dangerous so never ever Ignore a bed soar ever ,the soar may look ok from the outside but could be tunneling from the inside out so never underestimate the seriousness .
My Urologist, having been notified of a specific bladder indication in a prior scan by others, insisted on doing a scope exam of the bladder to rule out a cancer condition. The next day I came down with many of the symptoms listed in this sepsis article; temp, chills, violent shaking, etc. At the hospital (6 hours later) they determined that it was an ecoli UTI and began the antibiotic treatment. The nurses did mention that they were concerned about sepsis and now I can see why. I think that with a few more hours untreated I might not be here to write this. Only now do I see the seriousness of that experience. Thank you Jesus.
My husband came home from a regular checkup at our local dr and his arms got red and raw looking and he itched for days! It was awful. At home he's safe from germs but every time we go out, he's exposed to who knows what. He only gets sick when he goes out.
My husband also had a Urinary tract infection, but the Doctors at the Hellhole Hospital in Nashua that we once trusted (Big Mistake, cost my Husband his life), said they didn't know what kind of infection he had or where it was. He was denied antibiotics and developed Sepsis and was again, denied antibiotics for the Sepsis!
My husband also had a Urinary tract infection, but the Doctors at the Hellhole Hospital in Nashua that we once trusted (Big Mistake, cost my Husband his life), said they didn't know what kind of infection he had or where it was. He was denied antibiotics and developed Sepsis and was again, denied antibiotics for the Sepsis!
Sepsis is serious and a great preventive is a 1 oz dose of colloidal silver everyday. My family takes a shot glass every morning upon waking. It’s better than any antibiotic out there. It’s great for internal use and external use, cleaning and disinfecting just about anything. It’s also great for pets. As for vaccines, do your research and stay away from them! The flu vaccine alone has the highest death rate. Vaccines are untested and contain a host of things you do not want in your body ever. Like heavy metals, animal parts, and who knows what. IMHO if you want to stay healthy, stay away from doctors, prescription medications and hospitals. God gave us everything we need, you just need to do your research and stop depending on today’s quick fixes.
A body temperature below 98.6? This is nuts. 98.6 is an average. Mybown normal body temperatre is something over 97 and has been all my life. Further more flu vaccines are not the miracles the CDC wants us to believe they are. They often are not even particularily effective!
Sepsis pnumonia is what my husband died from January 2018. He has bee septic several times over the years but antibiotics quit working for him. He suffered from severe infections in the later stages of his dementia.
DeeDesign, you're not looking too far, no. I think it's important for anyone going through bereavement to understand what happened as clearly as is possible.
Whether or not the order of causes matters very much... does it, to you? It's just that untangling which of your mother's conditions were cause and which effect and which was ultimately the immediate cause of her death, I'd have thought next to impossible. The pressure sore came from immobility and loss of skin integrity - probably cause by her advanced heart disease. Preventing skin breakdown in such a compromised patient would be extremely difficult, even with first rate care; and was your mother living independently before the debriding surgery? The antibiotics I'm sure were necessary, but what effect might they have had on injured kidneys..? Her cardiac arrest could have been caused by the heart disease or by the sepsis, either, equally.
In your place, I think I would get together all the charts and notes and reports I could and ask a medically qualified friend to help me work out a timeline. Just to understand, not looking to blame. Do you have anyone you could ask?
My mother passed away and her death certificate stated that cardio arrest was the first cause, the second cause was congenital heart disease and the third cause was sepsis. She had a huge bedsore on her back among other places that she then had to have surgery at the hospital to get rid of the dead debris around the circumference of it. She was in a nursing home where she died a few months later. The night she died the doctor called me to let me know that she was giving her an antibiotic for "the wound" (bedsore) because it was infected. Within an hour I went to see her and she was gone. So my question is: Shouldn't the first cause of death on the death certificate be sepsis? Or, am I looking too far into this whole thing.
if the answer is yes, does that make it all right? The article is about doing what you can to get the condition caught in time, not on who to blame when it's too late.
I hope this isn't something you're currently dealing with, but the normal guidelines would apply. To sue successfully for damages, the patient or the patient's representatives would need to show that the doctor or hospital fell short of their professional standard of care, that the septic shock would not have occurred otherwise, and that as a result the patient came to measurable harm. So if a doctor acting to normal professional standards could not reasonably have suspected or predicted the possibility of sepsis, there would be no negligence; but if that possibility had been raised and the doctor refused to consider it and as a result of the delay in treatment the patient later died or suffered injury... different story.
Especially important reminder during the 'flu season, when a person suffering from the common symptoms may well just assume that what they need is paracetamol and bed rest.
The approach I'd use when speaking to medical personnel would be to say: "please rule out sepsis." You're not telling them what you think the problem is (which often goes down badly), you're just prompting them to think an extra thought about it.
Thank u so much for this article - my husband with mod adv alzheimers had a UTI turn septic on Jan 24. The ER we went to had him transported to hospital in 2 hours. It is VERY serious!!!! It caused his heart rate to skyrocket and AFIB came back - all because of the infection and sepsis. Thank you again and people should definitely watch for in seniors.
Rhinovirus...common cold progresses in very elderly to pneumonia. Dont wait like i did for progression. If nose is cold...too tired...nasal discharge without cough even...fast pulse .. Bring in to hosp. Fever comes too late. Take bllod pressure at home.
It was sepsis that led to my Mom's sudden accelerated decline. She nearly died in the hospital where she ended up spending 6 weeks after being diagnosed. As the article states, her cognitive abilities deteriated very rapidly after that as well.
My second husband died of sepsis contracted during elective surgery to implant a device to control his Parkinson's tremor. The surgical scar was healing perfectly when one day my husband, 84, was unable to walk. Although he was immediately hospitalized and given intravenous antibiotics, he died of sepsis. For anyone who read my recent post about my husband dying of a brain bleed caused by a fall, this was not the same man; this was my third husband. I know I promptly sought medical treatment for each.
This information is important to me because when my second husband died in 2009, his doctor told me his death was caused by sepsis ". . . contracted in a sterile operating room during elective surgery." After reading here about sepsis, I now understand the cause of his strange behavior in the hospital in the hours before his death.
Great article. Similar circumstances to what is described in this article have happened to 2 people I know within the past week. Both from a UTI. Scary! Age 70 and late sixties. If you're reading this, share this article with everyone you know. Prompt recognition of the symptoms and fast treatment can save lives!
Hi everyone. I am 25yrs of age. I ended up in the hospital back in 2011for having acquired Sepsis. I was experiencing every symptom there was for sepsis and didn't even know it. I was coughing out blood and literally had to crawl to go to the restroom. I was in bad shape until I finally decided to get checked out. Come to find out that I had Pneumonia as well. I also had septic shock. Long story short, I ended up in the ICU for 2weeks while being in coma for a week. Doctors said that I literally died twice but thank God they revived me. Pretty much they said I was a goner and that I was very lucky to be alive as a result and that I was a miracle because I shouldn't have survived. Sepsis is a scary thing now that I know that it happened to me. I really wish I could educate people more on the seriousness of this killer named Sepsis. I don't wish Sepsis on anyone because I went through h*ll in the hospital and I truly believe that Doctors and God all mighty saved my life. I do need to keep checking myself out though.
My dad is 84 years old and was diagnosed with bladder cancer and needed a cathader because he was urinating blood. After 2 days he became very ill and we took him to the ER. We almost lost him. Blood pressure dropped to 60/30. In ICU 3 days and another 10 days in hospital. It was Sepsis infection. He is home now and it seems his alzheimers is now much worse. I have read that Sepsis Infection is very serious and can cause dimentia in older people. He does not really know what is going on. It seems like his loss of memory is 10 fold now.
Concerning the other postings about what else can be done with "bladder infections", everyone please remember the importance of drinking plenty of water! It is not only vital for brain function, less wrinkles, to keep the blood "thin", thus helping to prevent strokes, heart attacks, embolisms, etc., but sheer drinking " washes out" bacteria lodged in the urinary tract. Now, we feel less thirsty as we age, and therefore drinking enough often becomes a problem. My suggestion, and what I did with my own mother, who also suffered from ongoing cystitis: put a large jug of tap water ( which is of excellent quality here in Vienna, coming directly from the mountains, built in the 1870ies, something we owe to the emperor Francis Joseph I who died in 1916 ), or, alternatively, a low sodium, high magnesium and calcium mineral water in a place one comes by all day, or on the bed- ridden's bedside table, and make it a habit to always have a sip when passing by the jug, or every half hour if immobilized. Thus, as the jug or bottle is emptied in the course of the day, a sufficient amount of liquid is circulating in your system, fighting not only bladder infections, but also decreasing the amount of food ingested, ( if obesity is a problem), for a glass of water before a meal greatly diminishes your appetite. Of course, with elders who don't eat enough, and/ or don't get sufficient nutrients, drink with meals and in- between, as we all should anyways, rather than directly before eating.
35 Comments
First Oldest
First
Sepsis: The Common Cause of Death You've Never Heard Of
by that time he was sickly and tired taking care of his 97 yr old dad..in the same room with my taking him 3 days after to hospital with a UTI.....contaminated room with the two...who knows you cannot keep a sick patient in the same quarters of course why did the doc send brother home anyway...no ct head scan?
so point here infections are deadly and can attack the BODY in many ways..no antibiotics were ever given until too late as BA require empirical antibiotics before operation...................
cancer condition. The next day I came down with many of the symptoms listed in this sepsis article; temp, chills, violent shaking, etc. At the hospital (6 hours later) they determined that it was an ecoli UTI and began the antibiotic treatment.
The nurses did mention that they were concerned about sepsis and now I can see why. I think that with a few more hours untreated I might not be here to write this. Only now do I see the seriousness of that experience.
Thank you Jesus.
As for vaccines, do your research and stay away from them!
The flu vaccine alone has the highest death rate. Vaccines are untested and contain a host of things you do not want in your body ever. Like heavy metals, animal parts, and who knows what.
IMHO if you want to stay healthy, stay away from doctors, prescription medications and hospitals. God gave us everything we need, you just need to do your research and stop depending on today’s quick fixes.
Whether or not the order of causes matters very much... does it, to you? It's just that untangling which of your mother's conditions were cause and which effect and which was ultimately the immediate cause of her death, I'd have thought next to impossible. The pressure sore came from immobility and loss of skin integrity - probably cause by her advanced heart disease. Preventing skin breakdown in such a compromised patient would be extremely difficult, even with first rate care; and was your mother living independently before the debriding surgery? The antibiotics I'm sure were necessary, but what effect might they have had on injured kidneys..? Her cardiac arrest could have been caused by the heart disease or by the sepsis, either, equally.
In your place, I think I would get together all the charts and notes and reports I could and ask a medically qualified friend to help me work out a timeline. Just to understand, not looking to blame. Do you have anyone you could ask?
if the answer is yes, does that make it all right? The article is about doing what you can to get the condition caught in time, not on who to blame when it's too late.
I hope this isn't something you're currently dealing with, but the normal guidelines would apply. To sue successfully for damages, the patient or the patient's representatives would need to show that the doctor or hospital fell short of their professional standard of care, that the septic shock would not have occurred otherwise, and that as a result the patient came to measurable harm. So if a doctor acting to normal professional standards could not reasonably have suspected or predicted the possibility of sepsis, there would be no negligence; but if that possibility had been raised and the doctor refused to consider it and as a result of the delay in treatment the patient later died or suffered injury... different story.
The approach I'd use when speaking to medical personnel would be to say: "please rule out sepsis." You're not telling them what you think the problem is (which often goes down badly), you're just prompting them to think an extra thought about it.