Contracting sepsis shock?

Question

My brother was diagnosed with non hopkins lymphoma and had his spleen removed, during the process after he had a catheter placed in his chest for chemotherpy now I saw my sister inlaw "clean the wound and catherter" but it was not over the opening area it was around and never over the wound itself. Well a few months later, my brother was admited in the hospital uncouncious with Sepsis Shock, he had mottoling and was comatose, unfotuanly he never made it! And Ive always wondered was it cause she didnt clean it properly was the reason he contracted this? Can anyone shed some light for me? She also refused a autopsy to be preformed! Can anyone help me find some answers? Thank you

Didnt mean to come across that you can "catch" sepsis, I just didnt know if he could have got from the lack of cleaning on the actual wound!! I know you cant "catch" like a cold or flu etc...

Answer 1

I am so sorry for your loss.

You can get blood infections even when you clean the central line site perfectly. Most likely he was immunocompromised from his disease and/or from chemotherapy, and got septic. Who knows if it could have been prevented from proper cleaning, but probably not. There is bacteria on your skin no matter how much you clean it. For most of us with normal immune systems, it never causes a problem. In your brother's case, he could not fight it off.

Although an autopsy may tell you what bacteria caused his sepsis, it would not answer the question you want to know.

Answer 2

Septic shock would not occur only because his wound was not cleaned - he would have to have germs from somewhere infect him, and it is not uncommon for people with no spleen and on chemotherapy to have a compromised immune system. My condolences, it is hard to lose a loved one, for sure. However, this looks fairly straightforward, though unfortunate. We look for explanations that make more sense than chance for our loss, but in this case, it seems quite a bad luck situation.

Answer 3

There aren't any simple answers for you.
We are not the medical examiners.
There are many many causes for septic shock..
And someone who was immunesupressed.. It could have been even a little bit of bacteria, like a pneumonia, etc...
That could have killed him.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Ask your sister in law what bug was cultured from your brother's blood.... That may give you at least an answer...

Answer 4

I'm sorry. BTW, one does not "catch" shock. it's a condition that results from another problem going on in the body like infection or an extreme immune response.