Muhammad Ali’s death brings sepsis awareness to light

Muhammad Ali battled a long list of ailments at the end of his life, most famously Parkinson’s disease.  However it was sepsis that delivered the final blow to “The Greatest”. Sepsis is the presence in tissues of harmful bacteria in their toxins.  The body’s overwhelming and life-threatening response to an infection which can lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death according to the CDC.

Sepsis kills more people annually than Aids, prostate cancer, and breast cancer combined.  Still, the level of awareness doesn’t match the level of diagnosis, which is why the Staunton family felt blindsided when their 12 year old son Rory got a small cut while playing basketball.  The next day he became sick, so they took him to the hospital.  “They sent him home, did a blood test, they didn’t check it – the next night we were in he had gone blue and was dead in a day. He fell on Tuesday and was dead on Sunday evening” Rory’s father, Ciaran, tells 47ABC.  And since that day in 2012, the Staunton family have been fighting to raise awareness, and pushing for healthcare improvement.

“The hospital my son died in boasted that they had a sepsis protocol in place, but they didn’t have it in place until they’re in the ICU. That’s where you go to die with sepsis.” Cairan says matter of factly.  So the question arises, why is it so hard for doctors to pinpoint sepsis when it’s right in front of them? Chief Medical Information Officer & Hospitalist PRMC Dr. Chris Snyder says “it’s elusive because people look great and they have a fire burning inside of them that we can’t see, they can’t feel, we can’t sense.”

The term sepsis was introduced in ancient Greece by Hippocrates, as in “Hippocratic Oath”, but it wasn’t officially identified as the syndrome it now is until 1989.  Ciaran and his family want more to be learned, so Rory’s death will not have been in vain. 

“Well, its not going to bring back my son.” Staunton says, “but we have met children in New York [Staunton’s home state] that we have saved.” but he then asks 47ABC “why isn’t the government doing it?”.  In fact, Staunton refers to reports saying that their organization “The Rory Staunton Foundation for Sepsis Awareness” has spent more on Sepsis awareness than the United States government.

The states originally held the power on sepsis protocol until recently, when in January, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services rolled out new guidelines when diagnosing a patient who may be infected.  Rory Staunton’s death lead to “Rory’s Regulation’s” which makes all hospitals in the state of New York report their protocol to state officials.  Similar laws have followed suit in other states, including Illinois in April.  PRMC has been following new research guidelines for nearly a decade, despite a lack of regulation in Maryland.

There is, however, some effort on the government’s part. Dr. Snyder tells 47ABC “the federal government is pushing for us to identify more sepsis, but sepsis is something I see every day every hour at our hospital.”

Staunton thinks the attention is more focused on what he calls “politically correct illnesses” like Zika , which has killed a total of one American citizen.  According to the CDC, at least 1 million people have died from a sepsis related infection since 2012.

So with so many deaths, and such little awareness, Muhammad Ali’s death shines a light on a syndrome that shows no discrimination, from killing a 12 year old boy, to killing “The Greatest”.