01 Mar Sepsis , a pending issue in the media
It is not usual for non-scientific publications to be commented on on our news page. However, in this case we have decided to make an exception due to the nature of the information and the treatment given to the headlines.
Last Saturday, Mr. Juan Manuel de la Maza, who held the position of State Attorney General, passed away in Argentina, a judicial responsibility of great importance in the moments in which we live.
Apparently during his professional visit "he felt unwell" which is why he was placed in the hands of medical professionals in Buenos Aires, who made the decision to admit him with a diagnosis of urinary infection, with a previous history of diabetes.
As has been published, the process evolved unfavorably until it triggered sepsis, and later SEPTIC SHOCK, which caused the fatal outcome.
Every human life is precious and irreplaceable, and its loss is equally painful regardless of the person's media relevance. Logically, the greater the media relevance, the greater the impact on society, since the media act as a sounding board in these cases for the good and for the less good.
It is not appropriate to question his personal or clinical circumstances, or the quality of the health care received, which we assume is the best he could have had access to.
However, we want to reflect on the treatment that has been given to SEPSIS, when it is stated in the headline that "Sepsis, a rare but not impossible infection, cause of Maza's sudden death"...
Later on it is stated that "...it is not frequent and habitual, but it is something that is seen from time to time in Spanish hospitals".
Given these statements, I think it is necessary to make some clarifying comments, without the intention of arguing or creating social alarm.
In the first place, sepsis is a clinical situation that can be avoided in a very high percentage of cases if it is detected on time. In order to ensure early detection and intervention, it is necessary for patients susceptible to suffering from it and society in general to know and correctly identify the warning signs that should make us “think about sepsis”.
We do a disservice to society in terms of sepsis prevention if we label this complication as "an infection, or as something rare but not impossible..." Because many professionals and organizations, including "Think Sepsis", We are working to improve information on sepsis and above all to help identify its symptoms.
This is because we are aware that sepsis is a clinical situation that can evolve in hours to septic shock, which generally ends the patient's life.
I would also like to reflect on the dimension of the "rare" problem at hand.
In Spain, 1160 people died from traffic accidents in 2016, which justifies the enormous effort by both public administrations and civil society to raise awareness among all the social agents involved and reduce this figure. In this line is the license for points, the sanctions policy, the road safety campaigns, which we support and respect. No one in their right mind would think of saying that traffic accidents are unlikely, but not impossible... since we have ALL suffered losses in our more or less direct environment.
In our country, 17.000 people died in the same period of time from Sepsis, almost 15 times more than from traffic accidents.
Can it be affirmed with editorial rigor that sepsis is not a "frequent or habitual" problem?
Until we are able to situate the sepsis problem in its true magnitude, and this is a task that corresponds to all of us, including the media, we will not succeed in making society aware of the importance of identifying the warning signs of sepsis.
It is true that it is the responsibility of medical professionals and especially Intensive Medicine Specialists to diagnose and treat the patient. They are undoubtedly the last resort of the healthcare system. But before the patient reaches them, we have often lost valuable time, where an hour spent without intervention increases the risk of patient mortality by almost 7%.
This time does not have to be attributable to deficiencies in the health system, but rather can be caused by the lack of information and awareness about SEPSIS in the patient, his or her environment or society, which makes it difficult or delays a visit to the doctor. or the visit to the hospital emergency.
Reducing this loss of time so that the patient at risk of Sepsis is diagnosed as soon as possible requires everyone's participation, which is why the role of the media is key, transmitting objective and well-contrasted information on this complication. This is probably your biggest contribution to saving lives.