Tip Of The Day | Infection | Debary Medical Malpractice Lawyer

When you go to the hospital, you expect safe care. Yet each year in the United States, 1 in 20 hospital patients get an infection during medical treatment, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many infections are serious, and some are deadly.

One type of infection, called a bloodstream infection, can happen when a doctor puts in a central line (a tube that goes into a large vein of a patient's body – usually chest or neck) to give medicine. If the central line or area around it gets dirty, germs can enter the patient's bloodstream and cause infection. Bloodstream infections in patients with central lines can be deadly, killing as many as 1 in 4 who gets them.

Be sure healthcare professionals clean their hands before touching you, and let a doctor know if the area around the central line is red or sore.