MRSA in Neonatal Intensive Care

[pednurse]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Ohio

Our son was born 5 weeks early, on the second day of life was intubated, the first resp. therapist attempted 3+ intubations. On his 6 day of life got extremely ill and despite ventilator, ossalator, and nitric oxide his pulmonary pressure went extrememly high. At one week he was transferred to a hospital for ECMO, a long term heart lung bypass machine, after he was on ECMO tests from the first hospital came back + for MRSA in his blood and lungs. ECMO was able to save his life and he in all terms could have been clinically dead for 6 days while on ECMO, his heart or lungs neither had to work the machine did both pulmonary and cardiac support. As a result of the ECMO/sepsis he had a Grade I IVH and due to ecmo no longer has a right carotid artery, speech delays and fine motor delays.

This seem like a no brainer too me since he never left the hospital after birth, he had to contract the MRSA in NICU. Is there anything legally we can do... not ness. in a the form of $$$ but I never want another family to go through what we did.

 

[reviewphysician]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Ohio

Our son was born 5 weeks early, on the second day of life was intubated, the first resp. therapist attempted 3+ intubations. On his 6 day of life got extremely ill and despite ventilator, ossalator, and nitric oxide his pulmonary pressure went extrememly high. At one week he was transferred to a hospital for ECMO, a long term heart lung bypass machine, after he was on ECMO tests from the first hospital came back + for MRSA in his blood and lungs. ECMO was able to save his life and he in all terms could have been clinically dead for 6 days while on ECMO, his heart or lungs neither had to work the machine did both pulmonary and cardiac support. As a result of the ECMO/sepsis he had a Grade I IVH and due to ecmo no longer has a right carotid artery, speech delays and fine motor delays.

This seem like a no brainer too me since he never left the hospital after birth, he had to contract the MRSA in NICU. Is there anything legally we can do... not ness. in a the form of $$$ but I never want another family to go through what we did.

More than half of babies born before 35 weeks have intraventricular hemorrhage IVH -1. So it will be difficult to prove that The IVH was from the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) and not a complication of prematurity. Futhermore grade 1 IVH dosent cause developmental delay

A great proportion of MRSA in Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is actually caused by relations of the baby. Parents/relations are supposed to scrub their hands with antiseptic before touching their babies especially if they are premature. What happens is that most parents don’t or if they do they don’t do it properly. It will be hard to prove that it was the hospitals fault if your baby was the only one involved. You could give it a try but your chances of winning doesn’t look very good

__________________
Dr Nwaizuzu ( www.reviewphysician.com )

....Be relentlessly positive ,focusing whenever possible on successes not failures, that’s how you get somewhere in life

 

[pednurse]

I am a pedicatric nurse, so I do know the correct way to scrub/wash, which it is the policey of the hospital to do before any contact (and I was with my husband everytime he entered so I was able to watch him also). Also the hospital does not have their caregivers scrub after each contact and advise using the alcohol base cleaners inless there is visable soiling on hands. The containers of purell are located at each isolette.

Secondly, my son had a head u/s before we left the first hospital and his bleed was not present (at 7 days). it was present at the hospital we were transferred to on day 9.

Lastly it is hard to tell if anyother infants were involved in any outbreaks, but since I have been pulled and worked in that unit I know for a fact the care room he was in was closed due to a MRSA outbreak ~ 2 months before he was born and the hospital is currently remodeling due to the frequency of infectious outbreaks and will have individual rooms for all the babies as opposed to one large open room

 

[ellencee]

pednurse
reviewphysician gave you the correct answer and your response only confirmed his answer. The hospital has policies, procedures, and the required provisions (purell at each isolette) in place. The policy and procedure to use the alcohol based cleanser unless there is visible soiling is also appropriate and you as a working nurse know that is appropriate. You also know that MRSA, more likely than not, came from a family member and not from a healthcare provider.

The hospital is in the active process of further reducing any chance of an "outbreak" by remodeling to provide individual rooms for neonates. This action does not indicate the hospital is being negligent but indicates the opposite. You aren't going to be able to prove that a facility undergoing remodeling to attempt to reduce any possible cross-contamination is not aware of a problem or a potential problem and is failing to take steps to correct a real or perceived problem. Personally, I think it is a waste of good money though I also know that by using profits to make this change keeps the hospital from being able to show a profit and thereby lose federal funds for indigent care.

Your son is beyond lucky to be alive and you are seeking someone to blame so that you do not have to accept any sense of failure to have a perfectly healthy and "normal" infant. More likely than not, you did not cause your infant to be born prematurely or to need the extensive care he required; neither did anyone else.

Medical science and the medical profession has given your son to you, alive and in need of caring and competent parents. You are in a position to facilitate your child's having a virtually normal life because you are ahead of the general population in knowledge and skills required for progressing this infant to his maximum potential. Counseling may be an option for you and your husband if you can not get past these events without seeking to blame someone.

Best wishes,
EC

 

[pednurse]

EC,
could you please tell me how you are so sure sure that MRSA most likely came from a family member and not a healthcare worker?????

It was only me and my husband at the bedside, and last time I check my husband or myself have never done anything invasive to our son. MRSA needs a point of ENTRY such as an opening in the skin. well lets see, multiple IV starts, multiple intubation attempts etc that would leave me to believe it was a caregiver.

Yes, I did blame my self for the first few days... Could it pass the placenta? Did I give it to him.... well all these fears were laid to rest when care givers (DRs) from one of the top medical centers in the US assured me that was not true and he contracted MRSA by being at the previous hospital

 

[rmet4nzkx]

You may have difficulty with a lawsuit as previous explained, however, you might look back further to see if the higher risk of premature birth was appropriately addressed. What caused you to go into PTL? Were the lungs ripened? Was there any question re due date? Premature birth can result in developmental delays. Is your child in early intervention programs or evaluated for DD?

 

[ellencee]

The answers provided are based on what the poster can expect if she consults with a medmal attorney and that is (more liekly than not) going to be the answer reviewphysician and I gave--you will not be able to prove negligence. If anyone is at high risk of passing MRSA to the child it is the mother. I didn't want to say it because this mother is suffering great emotional distress; but, you can bet the defense would raise this issue ASAP and seek to prove it.

(In all probability, each and every one of us has MRSA on our skin somewhere (nares, armpits, groin). Healthcare workers who utilize universal precautions are the least likely to 'share' MRSA with others.)

Furthermore, the ECMO caused the developmental problems and I personally think that hospital went a little overboard on aggressive therapy but then, I don't have the records to review and find out why they chose such an invasive and dramatic approach to treatment. Of course the second hospital said the first hospital 'gave' the infant MRSA; what would one expect?!

The advice given is based on medical-legal perspective: the poster's claim will be virtually impossible to prove; but, she is certainly entitled to consult with a medmal attorney in her area and she should do so as this site is for entertainment and not to be considered a substitute for legal advice.

I can give one more tidbit of medical-legal advice: if this poster goes into an attorney's office and presents herself with or reacts with the emotional outbursts presented here, she will find the door opens more quickly to leaving the office than to entering. Emotional clients do not make good historians or good witnesses and the attorney needs both to develop a medmal claim.

EC

 

[critterperson]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Ohio

Our son was born 5 weeks early, on the second day of life was intubated, the first resp. therapist attempted 3+ intubations. On his 6 day of life got extremely ill and despite ventilator, ossalator, and nitric oxide his pulmonary pressure went extrememly high. At one week he was transferred to a hospital for ECMO, a long term heart lung bypass machine, after he was on ECMO tests from the first hospital came back + for MRSA in his blood and lungs. ECMO was able to save his life and he in all terms could have been clinically dead for 6 days while on ECMO, his heart or lungs neither had to work the machine did both pulmonary and cardiac support. As a result of the ECMO/sepsis he had a Grade I IVH and due to ecmo no longer has a right carotid artery, speech delays and fine motor delays.

This seem like a no brainer too me since he never left the hospital after birth, he had to contract the MRSA in NICU. Is there anything legally we can do... not ness. in a the form of $$$ but I never want another family to go through what we did.

I would talk to a med-malpractice attorney in your area- do not listen to EC....this poster didn't think I had a case either and was very wrong!