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Our loved ones fall ill or are the victims of small or even tragic accidents and must be sent to a hospital for treatment or care. They arrive in the Emergency Room, only to be whisked away while you are left to fill out insurance paperwork, patient history and forms upon forms of release and other information.

By the time you arrive, your loved one has been prepped for surgery, has an IV and is receiving the life-treatment they need. Or are they?

Hospitals are a breeding ground for bacteria, and with new strains of antibiotic resistant bugs roaming around, it is becoming more common to see patients come in with an illness or suffer injuries from an accident, only to die a few weeks later from a secondary bacterial infection.

In a sad story covered by CNN of a young man who had suffered injuries from a sports related accident but whose prognosis was good, fell prey to a hospital infection during his recovery and died just a few weeks later.

This type of tragedy is all too common.

The Center for Disease Control estimates that nearly 100,000 people die in the United States every year from secondary infections caused by hospitals.

· 32 percent of all healthcare-associated infection are urinary tract infections
· 22 percent are surgical site infections
· 15 percent are pneumonia (lung infections)
· 14 percent are bloodstream infections

In a story covered back in February here on Digital Journal that received some very passionate and heated comments in relation to a young girl who was supposedly diagnosed with strep throat but died a few days later in hospital from Toxic Shock Syndrome, an obvious lack of a thorough understanding of symptoms that revolve around these super bugs is apparent from both the community and many medical professionals alike.

Whether this particular case was a secondary issue, it is not known as fact to the commoner. However, the case in point remains that the young girl’s symptoms were similar to the common flu and she did present to Emergency Room staff, but she had already died by the time it was confirmed as a form of Toxic Shock Syndrome.

An article last summer in the BBC News quoted an alarming rate of “1 in 10” patients having secondary infections such as MRSA.

The question therein lies: are hospitals killing patients?

Hospitals clearly are the main resource those in need and in no way does the question impose any implication that all or even the majority of patients entering a hospital are at risk of losing their life at the hands of “Dr. Death”.

CNN gives some tips to help put the patient back in control for future hospital visits:

1. Bring your own toys.
2. Heat up your car - studies show staying warm before and during surgery can help you fight infection.
3. Want to touch me? Wash your hands first.
4. Ask where that syringe has been.
5. Having surgery? Speak up! - A week or so before surgery, ask your doctor whether you should wash your skin daily with a disinfectant such as chlorhexidine to prepare.
Also, ask whether you should have a nasal or skin swab for MRSA, the superbug that causes many hospital infections. If you've got it, you can be treated with antibiotics.
The day of surgery, if the surgical site needs to be shaved, ask to be clippered, not shaved with a razor, which can create nicks where bacteria thrive.

With the increasing rates of antibiotic resistant bacteria, also known as Super Bugs, whose symptoms mimic those of common harmless illness such as a cold or mild flu, yet whose end result might land a healthy young individual in a cold dark place before their time, is it not prudent healthcare to look for the Zebra when the Zebra has now become the norm?

As the saying goes, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".