A hearing was held on the legislation last week.
State Senator Karen Lewis Young (photo from Md. General Assembly website)
Frederick, Md (KM) Lawmakers in Annapolis are considering bills requiring hospitals and urgent care centers to develop procedures and protocols to diagnose and treat sepsis in their patients. Frederick County Delegate Karen Lewis Young is sponsoring one piece of legislation called “Lochlin’s Law,” which is named after a five-year-old Frederick boy who died in 2020. She said Lochlin was not diagnosed properly for sepsis.,
“And, unfortunately sepsis, which results from an infection, and body’s immune overreacts to the point where it actually shuts down organs,”: says Senator Lewis Young.
With these procedures and protocols in place, Lewis Young says patients who show symptoms of this illness can get treatment immediately. “Because for every hour sepsis goes untreated, the chances of a fatality increase by eight percent,” she says.
A hearing was held on one of the sepsis bills last week before the House Committee on Health and Government Operations.
Lewis Young says she’s confident the legislation will go through the General Assembly. “When the committee chair asks you ‘are you willing to accept favorable amendments;’ and the committee chair tells the lead advocate ‘we’re going to help you do something about this,’ you know there’s a pretty good chance the bill’s gonna move,” she said.
There’s a similar bill in the House of Delegates sponsored by Frederick County Delegate Ken Kerr.
By Kevin McManus