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How Can Negligence Lead to Pneumonia?

Oct. 29, 2019

Hospitals in Michigan, like other hospitals across the country, tend to have some issues in the infrastructure that can lend themselves to acts of negligence on the part of the staff. One potential example is the spread of hospital acquired pneumonia through inattentive or overworked staff members.

Medscape takes a look at hospital acquired pneumonia, also known as HAP. HAP is a specific type of pneumonia that does not develop in the patient until after their hospital stay began. In other words, if the pneumonia was incubating before your arrival, it is not considered HAP even if the symptoms begin to manifest while you are staying in the hospital.

HAP can have more resistance to antibiotics and other treatments due to the fact that it is found in hospitals. Here, it can grow an immunity to the drugs used to combat traditional pneumonia, as well as to things like disinfectants. This makes it particularly hard on victims, who already have a compromised immune system.

HAP can be spread through many means. However, we are specifically looking at the negligence of hospital staff in contribution to the spread of HAP. This can happen when staff does not properly disinfect their tools or work surfaces, or if they don’t wash their hands frequently enough. Things like this may occur because the staff is feeling rushed or under pressure due to being understaffed and overworked.

The crowded condition and under-staffing of certain hospitals can indeed lead to hospital negligence. In turn, this negligence can cause the health of the patients to be affected.