Hospitals generally go to great lengths to make sure their buildings are sterile, but almost 2% of the patients who die each year die from infections they picked up while in the hospital. Hospitals often go to great lengths to maintain sterility. In some cases, fatal hospital infections cannot be completely prevented. But in many cases, the hospital could have done much more to ensure sanitary conditions. If a loved one has died from a preventable hospital infection, they need the help of an attorney.

The fact that hospital patients are typically very sick means that their immune systems are weaker than when they are healthy. Due to their weakened immune systems, hospitalized patients are more likely to die from relatively minor infections. An infection that would be extremely unpleasant but not fatal to a healthy person could easily be fatal to a hospitalized patient. Hospitals that don’t act fast enough can be held responsible for the preventable infection that led to the death of your loved one.

Of all patients who die in hospitals, approximately 2% die from hospital-acquired infections. With about 2 million hospital deaths in the United States each year, that translates to about 100,000 deaths from hospital infections each year. Most of those deaths are due to urinary tract infections, infections where surgery was performed, or pneumonia acquired while in the hospital.

These infections are often caused by bacteria or viruses that would not be as harmful to a healthy person. This even includes many everyday medical conditions, such as upper respiratory tract infections, that healthy people might not worry about at all. Once these bacteria and viruses are allowed to enter the body of a person with a weak immune system, they can take over the body much more easily than in healthy people.

Deaths from urinary tract infections are often the result of catheters not being properly disinfected or nurses not disinfecting the area before inserting them. Surgical infections are also frequently the result of inadequate sterilization before, during, or after the operation. Pneumonia frequently develops after a respiratory tract infection gets out of control, something hospitals can usually prevent by monitoring patients for infections and acting quickly when one is detected.