Causes of Neonatal Sepsis

If your newborn baby is diagnosed with sepsis, it can be terrifying and hard to comprehend how such a situation could occur in a hospital. However, the immune system in newborns is not yet fully developed, so any introduction of bacteria or other pathogens can quickly become a serious infection in a newborn. There are several ways that negligent healthcare professionals could expose a baby to dangerous germs during or immediately following birth. If such an infection spreads to the blood, it is called sepsis. This is usually a very dangerous medical condition for a baby.

What Causes of Sepsis in Newborns?

If your precious child has been diagnosed with sepsis while in the care of medical professionals, you may be wondering how exactly the harmful pathogens were introduced into your baby’s environment. The following list includes some of the ways that babies can develop this serious medical issue:

• Improperly sterilized equipment used during delivery or immediately thereafter
• Complications that are not handled correctly during birth, such as prolonged labor
• Failing to treat diseases such as herpes simplex virus or group B strep in the mother

One of the main dangers of sepsis is that since the infection located in the blood, it can quickly spread to any organ in the body. It can be a very difficult infection for a newborn’s immune system to fight, which is why neonatal sepsis infections are sometimes fatal.

Contact Us

If your baby contracted sepsis due to the negligence of a healthcare professional, you can fight back against this terrible act of carelessness. Call the Philadelphia birth infection lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C., at 215-238-1130 today to discuss your case.