Failure to Diagnose Sepsis Lawsuits
Sepsis represents a life-threatening emergency requiring immediate medical intervention. When healthcare professionals fail to recognize sepsis symptoms or delay treatment, patients can suffer catastrophic organ damage, amputations, or death within hours. These tragic outcomes often result from preventable diagnostic errors that may constitute medical negligence.
Sepsis is the body’s toxic life-threatening response to infection that commonly leads to tissue damage, organ failure, and death. The immune system, when functioning properly, works to fight off dangerous bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites in order to prevent infection.
If an infection is present, the immune system attempts to fight it, often with the help of antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics. Sometimes, however, the immune system turns on itself, and triggers a septic response.
Sepsis is an acute illness requiring urgent treatment to prevent permanent injury and death. The condition can begin with merely a minor infection and the body can self-destruct by attacking its own tissue and internal organs. Misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis or a Diagnostic Error can lead to wrongful death and the premature loss of a loved one.
Joe Lyon is an experienced medical malpractice lawyer and delayed diagnosis attorney investigating misdiagnosis lawsuits and failure to diagnose cases for plaintiffs nationwide.
What Causes Sepsis?
Sepsis is caused by an overwhelming immune response to an existing infection. The body works to combat the infection, releasing chemicals that may trigger a more widespread inflammation. Sepsis can lead to blood clots and leaking blood vessels. The inflammation and clotting can impair blood flow and deprive organs of nutrients and oxygen.
Blood pressure drops, and septic shock will lead to organs like lungs, kidneys, liver to fail. Sepsis is a major issue in hospitals, and a large reason many patients are readmitted to hospitals.
There are several types of microbes that can cause sepsis, though bacteria—often antibiotic-resistant bacteria—are the most common cause. In some cases, bloodstream infection cannot be detected, and doctors may fail to diagnose sepsis.
It’s possible for sepsis to develop from simply a small cut that gets infected or an infection that develops after a hospital stay.
What Causes Delayed Diagnosis?
Certain groups of individuals are more susceptible to sepsis, including patients with diabetes, cancer, HIV infection or those who are immunosuppressed. The elderly and newborns are at a higher risk, and physicians should be aware of a patient’s vulnerabilities.
It is crucial for hospital staff, nurses, nurse practitioners, and doctors to recognize the signs of septic shock before a patient succumbs to the dangerous condition. Common symptoms may include the following:
- Extremes of body temperature
- Frantic breathing patterns
- Rapid heartbeat with rapid deterioration
- Chronic fatigue
- Muscle and joint pain
- Deteriorating mental state
- Decrease of systolic blood pressure
- Difficulty passing urine
- Unusual skin problems
- High levels of lactic acid in the blood
Legal Standards for Misdiagnosis Claims
Establishing medical negligence requires proving that healthcare providers failed to meet accepted standards of care and this failure directly caused patient harm. In sepsis cases, attorneys must demonstrate that reasonable medical professionals would have recognized the condition and initiated treatment sooner.
Expert witnesses—typically emergency medicine physicians and infectious disease specialists—review medical records to identify where breakdowns occurred. They explain how timely intervention would have altered outcomes, potentially preventing organ damage, amputations, or death.
Documentation becomes crucial evidence. Emergency department charts, vital sign flowsheets, laboratory results, and nursing notes all reveal whether staff appropriately monitored patients and escalated concerns. These records often expose systemic failures in hospital protocols.
ABOUT THE LYON FIRM
Joseph Lyon has 17 years of experience representing individuals in complex litigation matters. He has represented individuals in every state against many of the largest companies in the world.
The Firm focuses on single-event civil cases and class actions involving corporate neglect & fraud, toxic exposure, product defects & recalls, medical malpractice, and invasion of privacy.
NO COST UNLESS WE WIN
The Firm offers contingency fees, advancing all costs of the litigation, and accepting the full financial risk, allowing our clients full access to the legal system while reducing the financial stress while they focus on their healthcare and financial needs.
Why Choose The Lyon Firm?
Sepsis misdiagnosis litigation requires attorneys with deep understanding of emergency medicine protocols and infectious disease management. The Lyon Firm has successfully represented numerous families devastated by diagnostic failures.
Our legal team works with nationally recognized medical experts who provide compelling testimony about standard-of-care violations. We thoroughly investigate each case, obtaining complete medical records, interviewing witnesses, and consulting with specialists across multiple disciplines.
The Lyon Firm understands the complex medical science surrounding sepsis diagnosis and treatment. We can effectively challenge hospital defenses, cross-examine opposing experts, and present technical information clearly to juries.
We handle all sepsis cases on contingency, requiring no upfront attorney fees. You pay nothing unless we secure compensation for your family. This approach ensures access to justice regardless of financial circumstances.