“No one tracks sepsis cases closely enough to know how often these severe infections turn fatal. But the toll — both human and financial — is enormous, finds an investigation by KHN and the Chicago Tribune.”

By Fred Schulte and Elizabeth Lucas and Joe Mahr, Chicago Tribune

“Shana Dorsey first caught sight of the purplish wound on her father’s lower back as he lay in a suburban Chicago hospital bed a few weeks before his death.

“Her father, Willie Jackson, had grimaced as nursing aides turned his frail body, exposing the deep skin ulcer, also known as a pressure sore or bedsore.

“‘That was truly the first time I saw how much pain my dad was in,’ Dorsey said.

“The staff at Lakeview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, she said, never told her the seriousness of the pressure sore, which led to sepsis, a severe infection that can quickly turn deadly if not cared for properly. While a resident of Lakeview and another area nursing home, Jackson required several trips to hospitals for intravenous antibiotics and other sepsis care, including painful surgeries to cut away dead skin around the wound, court records show.

“Dorsey is suing the nursing center for negligence and wrongful death in caring for her dad, who died at age 85 in March 2014.”

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