Hospital acquired infection claims

Anyone who is admitted to hospital hopes that their injury, disease or illness will be successfully treated and they are then able to return home.

You expect to stay in a clean and sterile environment and somewhere which is designed to ensure your safety and care.

What you don’t expect is to develop an illness in hospital or to return home in a far worse condition than when you were admitted.

Unfortunately this is the case. Hospital acquired infections are an increasingly common feature of many people’s stays in hospital and can be a frightening experience.

If you or your family have been unlucky enough to contract a hospital acquired infection which has damaged your health then you may be able to claim compensation.

Types of hospital acquired infections

Some of these you will be familiar with whereas others less so. They include:

• MRSA
• C Difficile (clostridium difficile)
• Bacterial infections such as E coli and klebsiella
• Glycopeptide resistant enterococci (bacteria which causes urinary tract infections and blood poisoning)

The two most common hospital acquired infections are MRSA and C Difficile.

The longer you stay in hospital the greater the risk of an infection. Plus being placed on a large ward where there are constant admissions also increases the risk.

These infections are unpleasant to say the least and can result in long term effects. A hospital acquired infection not only impacts upon you but affects your family as well. It causes a great of distress and may force you to make changes to your lifestyle, possibly on a permanent basis.

Hospital infections are known to occur if a patient has an open wound which is poorly cared for or if there is a lack of cleanliness in general. Germs and bacteria thrive in hospital environments due to their being large numbers of people gathered together in a closed space which enables them to spread.

If this is coupled with a less than stringent approach to hygiene and poor cleaning standards then it increases this risk.

Making a claim for compensation for a hospital acquired infection

There are several issues involved when involved in a claim for this type of compensation. They include whether you were screened for any of these infections before your admittance; delay in diagnosing and treating your infection; correct or incorrect treatment of your infection and lack of good medical care.

This means engaging the services of a personal injury lawyer or solicitor who has dealt with these cases before and has expertise in doing so. He or she will also have knowledge and understanding about hospital acquired infections and will be able to advise you accordingly.

They will look at the facts surrounding your claim and will discuss the likely outcome with you.

If you want to know more about the claims process then visit our making a claim for compensation section.

Time limit for claiming compensation for a hospital acquired infection

There are time limits for personal injury claims which are usually set at 3 years from the date of the original accident.

However there may be a different time limit for this type of claim. Your personal injury lawyer or solicitor will know what the deadline is for your claim and will advise you about this.