Group A Streptococcus is one of the most common bacteria in medicine. Most of the time it causes strep throat or a skin infection that is resolved with a short course of antibiotics. When it is missed and left untreated, it can become invasive, spreading into the bloodstream and deep tissues and triggering a chain reaction the body cannot stop on its own.
That chain reaction has a recognized sequence. First, severe sepsis, the body’s overwhelming and self-damaging response to infection. Then streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, in which toxins released by the bacteria cause blood pressure to collapse and organs to fail. As circulation shuts down to preserve the core, blood flow to the limbs is sacrificed, and tissue begins to die. The brain, starved of adequate oxygenated blood during shock, can be permanently injured. Each stage flows from the one before it, and each stage is far harder to reverse than the one before.
The entire cascade is preventable at the very beginning, when the infection is still just an infection. That beginning is exactly where this case went wrong. A missed strep test turned into a complete misdiagnosis, ultimately costing our client both of their legs.
The Townsley Law Firm represented our client’s family and recovered over $1,750,000 in a settlement.
How a Common Bacteria Becomes a Life-Threatening Emergency
Our client’s mother sought medical care after her 5-year-old son developed a high fever, ear pain, sore throat, and a runny nose. He was first seen at an urgent care clinic, where he tested negative for the flu and mononucleosis. He was prescribed an antibiotic, and his mother was instructed to alternate Tylenol and Ibuprofen to control his fever and to follow up with his pediatrician the next day. She did exactly as instructed. Although he seemed to improve briefly, his condition quickly worsened over the next several days, causing his mother to take him to the emergency room.
At the emergency room, doctors ordered blood work and a chest x-ray but failed to test him for strep, despite signs that he could have had a serious bacterial infection. Instead, he was diagnosed with a viral illness, given fluids and medication for his fever, and sent home.
The emergency room failed to recognize that he had an aggressive Group A Streptococcal infection, the same bacteria that commonly causes strep throat, but in his case, it had spread throughout his body. The infection quickly overwhelmed his immune system, causing blood poisoning (sepsis), toxic shock, failure of multiple organs, problems with his blood clotting, and brain injury.
Despite extraordinary efforts to save his life, the infection permanently cut off blood flow to both of his legs, making bilateral above-the-knee amputations necessary. Had the infection been recognized and treated promptly with the appropriate testing and antibiotics, it is more likely than not that these devastating, life-altering injuries could have been prevented.
The Missed Diagnosis That Set Everything in Motion
A high fever in a child is not something that should be dismissed with a quick diagnosis and a trip home. It is a warning sign that requires doctors to look for the cause, especially when the child appears seriously ill. That means taking a careful history, performing a thorough examination, and ordering the right tests to determine whether the infection is caused by a virus or bacteria.
Once of the quickest, easiest, and least expensive tests available was a strep test. If it had been performed, it likely would have identified the bacterial infection while it was still easily treatable with antibiotics. Instead, the infection was missed, no appropriate antibiotics were given, and the bacteria were allowed to spread unchecked until they overwhelmed his body.
That is what this case is about. The problem was not that the doctors were faced with a disease that could not be treated. The problem was that they failed to perform a simple test that likely would have identified a common bacterial infection before it became life-threatening. That missed opportunity allowed an illness that was highly treatable to turn into severe blood poisoning, toxic shock, multiple organ failure, and the loss of both of this little boy’s legs.
