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WITHAt first, Klaus-Ulrich Oehler only had a small swelling on his forearm. About the size of a wasp sting and as unspectacular as the small wound around which the swelling had formed. The next day he felt a bit dizzy. Oehler, a neurologist in Würzburg, marked the extent of the swelling with a pencil. Shortly after, he had a fever, 39.6. The swelling had increased.
Oehler immediately went to the emergency room for trauma surgery. He introduced himself with the words “I need an antibiotic, I will have sepsis.” Oehler had done everything right. What followed, however, is an example of the shortcomings in early detection of sepsis patients in Germany. Deficiencies that, according to experts, cause the death of about 20,000 people each year from the disease, although they could have survived the sepsis with an early diagnosis and treatment. 20,000 preventable deaths, approximately as many inhabitants as the Bavarian city of Traunstein.
Sepsis patients fall through the cracks
Oehler knew how to move, he once ran an intensive care unit himself. But when he got to the emergency room, he was met with misunderstanding: an antibiotic is not necessary, you must wait. Oehler sat up, the swelling increasing. Oehler thought back to the “golden hour” principle in emergency medicine: the earlier treatment is started, the better the chances of survival. Which is especially true for treating sepsis.
He asked, asked a nurse for an IV. No, the main doctor is still operating, he wants to isolate the germ first. Oehler said, “Until the germ is isolated, I will be dead.” It was getting worse and worse. He felt confused, as between life and death, he thought to himself: “If this is dying, at least it is not terrible.” After a good two hours an anesthetist arrived: “How are you?” meanwhile it reached his neck, Oehler was barely conscious. He was operated on, received intravenous antibiotics and had to be ventilated for hours. In the end he was saved.
On Thursday, the neurologist told his story at a conference of the Sepsis Foundation in Berlin on the occasion of World Sepsis Day on September 13. What stands out: If a doctor like Oehler falls on the grid and even points out the probable diagnosis to his colleagues, how does it fare for patients without medical experience who do not see the doctor with similar symptoms or do not point out the urgency there? ?
Little widespread knowledge about sepsis
Germany urgently needs uniform quality standards to improve detection and treatment of sepsis, Konrad Reinhart demanded on Thursday. Reinhart is Senior Lecturer in Medicine at Charité University and President of the Sepsis Foundation in Jena and President of the Global Sepsis Alliance. For years, the intensive care physician has been struggling to raise awareness of the dangerous and underrated disease. Sepsis can develop from really harmless cuts or inflammations, such as urinary tract infections, and affect everyone: healthy, sick, rich, poor, young and old.
