An “untreatable” and highly lethal bacteria strain is infecting patients in Atlanta-area medical facilities.

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) kills up to half the people it infects. CRE is resistant to most all antibiotics and spreads quickly from the hands of healthcare professionals in hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers. CRE infections have increased 400% over the last 10 years, and the bacteria have infected patients in 42 states.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends an intensive prevention and screening program, as such a method are the only known way to fight CRE infection.

Hospital negligence

Nearly 200,000 people die every year in incidents that involve hospital negligence, with an annual cost of about $6 billion. Some of the more common causes of preventable deaths and injuries at hospitals include:

• Failure to rescue: When a patient experiences any sort of distress, time is of the essence. Medical professionals have a duty to act quickly if a patient goes into cardiac arrest or shock, stops breathing, develops an infection or in any similar situation.
• Bedsores: Although decubitus ulcers can be prevented by simply turning a bedridden patient every few hours, bedsores are the number-two cause of iatrogenic death – an unexpected death caused by medical treatment – in American care facilities.
• Infection: Staph infections, CRE infections and other bacterial outbreaks can many times be traced to a negligent action or inaction.
• Embolism: Blood clots can form almost anywhere in the body and, if not properly detected and treated, can make their way to the lungs, causing a patient to asphyxiate.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of hospital negligence, you may be eligible for compensation for your economic and noneconomic damages. For a free consultation with an Atlanta attorney who charges no money upfront, contact our office.