09/29/2026
Your dad comes home after a routine surgery. Two days later he's feverish, confused, and breathing fast. 🩺
It's easy to write those off as a normal part of recovery. You tell yourself he just needs rest, but something about the way he's talking keeps your stomach in knots.
Trust that feeling. Those symptoms can be early signs of sepsis, which happens when the body's response to an infection starts damaging its own organs. It can become life-threatening quickly. After surgery or a hospital stay, the signs to watch for are fever or chills, confusion, fast breathing, and a racing heart.
Hospitals screen for sepsis because early treatment saves lives. When a care team misses the signs or waits too long to act, families are left replaying those days and wondering whether it could have been caught.
Our blog explains when a sepsis death can become a medical malpractice claim in Delaware.