Necrotizing fasciitis. Possible profiles of professional liability with reference to two cases
Gian Luca Marella 1, Enrico De Dominicis 2, Giovanni Battista Paliani 2, Giuseppe Santeusanio 1, Luigi Tonino Marsella 3, Saverio Potenza 3
Affiliations
Article Info
1 Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Chirurgia Università degli Studi di Roma “Toir Vergata”, Roma, Italy
2 Sezione di Medicina Legale Università degli Studi di Roma “Toir Vergata”, Roma, Italy
3 Dipartimento di Biomedicina e Prevenzione Università degli Studi di Roma “Toir Vergata”, Roma, Italy
Abstract
Necrotizing fasciitis is one of the most dangerous complication of an abscess and it is still a disease with a high mor- tality. In this work, we decided to consider two cases: the first one concerns a male subject, aged 66, deceased because of a fatal necrotizing fasciitis associated to a cervical descending mediastinitis, which evolved from a primary periton- sillar abscess; the second is about a 50-year-old woman with a perineal abscess, then evolved into necrotizing fasciitis associated to a fatal septis shock. After a systematic consideration of necrotizing fasciitis as pathology and an analysis of the possible related risks to a diagnostic or therapeutic delay, we analyzed the particular history of both cases to under- line the possible critical issues in professional behavior of the medical staff intervened.
Keywords
- Abscess
- Medical malpractice
- Mortality
- Necrotizing fasciitis
- Professional liability