Sepsis: A Growing National Medical Issue

It’s a little-known fatal syndrome, but sepsis has come to the forefront with Minnesota health officials after a $20 million settlement was recently paid out to the family of a 30-year-old woman in Maple Grove who passed away from sepsis just days after giving birth.

Sepsis occurs when the body’s reaction to an infection affects healthy tissues and organs in the body, possibly causing organ failure. There is little public knowledge about sepsis, but area health officials warn of the possible dangers related to the clinical syndrome.

In Minnesota, 439 people died from sepsis in 2015, an increase from 261 a decade earlier.