My hometown lost a beloved retired teacher who cut himself at home and his cut got infected resulting in his death, similar to the tragedy of Rory Staunton. He was a 12 year old boy, scraped his arm diving for a basketball in gym class, nobody thought much about it. His parents took him to his doctor who diagnosed his problem as a stomach virus that was going around. The doctor told the parents to take him to a nearby hospital to get re-hydrated which they did. They also ran tests on him, but the results came in after he was released. the tests showed his white blood cell count was unusually high. No one from the hospital contacted them. But two days later, the 12-year-old was fighting for his life in a New York City hospital as bacteria from the injury raced through his bloodstream. He died in the intensive care unit. The bacteria and his body’s reaction to it, a condition known as septic shock, killed him.
Parents Try To Recognize The Signs and Ask The Right Questions:
Because it can be so difficult to diagnose sepsis (toxic shock syndrome) early,
parents, the ones who know their kids the best, need to know what to watch out
for, Doctor Gaieski said. “If your kid has a scrape it shouldn’t cause a high fever or
pain that is out of proportion with the injury — or in a different spot from
where the scrape is,” he added. “You should also be concerned if your kid has
an unexplained rash, trouble breathing, or a fast respiratory rate or lethargy
without typical cold symptoms such as a runny nose, a sore throat or a cough.”
Strongly recommend that parents assume nothing and aggressively pursue the doctor and the hospital to close the loop with them concerning test results.
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