The shocking death of race driver Kyle Busch, due to sepsis rising from pneumonia, dredged up unpleasant memories of family members stricken by sepsis.
And I ask: Why does a condition as deadly as sepsis tend to go undiagnosed in its early, most treatable stages?
Also, I ask, how does such a prominent personality, being treated by presumably what are very skilled medical types and monitored closely if only to keep him able to race, die from sepsis while under their care?
For those who have not been following the sad Busch story, he was a 41-year-old NASCAR driver, a two-time series champion, and one of the all-time greats in terms of wins. I was a huge fan because of his skill and his take-no-prisoners attitude.
Alas, Busch was in the twilight of his career, driving for an uncompetitive Cup team and, truth be told, was not the driver he had been two decades back.
That is not to say he wasn’t still a talent. In one of his last drives, when he had good equipment under him, he won the NASCAR truck race at Dover. During the post-race interview, when asked why he still got excited about winning, he noted ironically that one never knows when the next win will come. Days later, he was dead. He’d run his final race.
And I think of my late mother, who had experienced sepsis, and a cousin, who was put in a nursing home for six months when his sepsis was missed. Fortunately, he survived.
During TV coverage of a Cup race at Watkins Glen two weeks before Busch’s death, his in-car radio was relayed to the viewers with Busch asking the doctor to meet him after the race to administer a shot. The announce crew said Busch had been ill all weekend with sinus problems and it would be tough to drive a race car with one’s head feeling like a balloon.
As mentioned earlier, Busch did race the next week. But, in the leadup to the Coca-Cola 600 Memorial Day, it was announced he was ill and would be replaced. Within hours, news broke that he was dead.
A death certificate was reported to have noted Busch was suffering from bacterial pneumonia for days to weeks before his death. That led to sepsis, an ailment in which the person’s immune system goes extreme and actually begins attacking the body’s organs. Sepsis claimed Busch’s life in about a day, according to that report.
The usual requests for privacy have limited details being released. Or maybe it’s a CYA operation being conducted.
We really don’t know whether Busch’s bacterial pneumonia was being treated specifically, or had been missed. We have read reports that he was in a race simulator when he collapsed and an ambulance was called.
I recall, as my mother spent the final couple of years of her life in a personal care facility, my ongoing battles with staff to treat what I perceived to be repeated urinary tract infections. My brother and I remember one of those leading to sepsis, as we were told by an ER doctor. My elderly mother survived. She was a tough one.
There was no sepsis admitted to when my mother died, but my brother and I both suspect it.
In the case of my aforementioned cousin, he was suffering extreme back pain and just happened to have a visit scheduled with his family doctor. The doctor noted to him that he was getting old and offered an MRI.
Understand, that MRIs and CAT scans are the local medical profession’s equivalent of the fast-food worker asking “do you want fries with that” as you order at the drive-through window.
MRIs and CAT scans might be ordered for any malady from a hangnail, to a sniffle, to an ingrown toenail, just to help pay for the machines and keep the workers busy.
My cousin ended up being taken by ambulance to our local hospital, where again sepsis was missed and he was sent home with a prescription for pain medication.
A rapid return to the ER resulted in someone there finally getting it right, but precious time had been lost.
During the course of his hospitalization of six weeks or so, some nurse was indulging in an orgy of self-congratulation, telling me they finally had helped him turn the corner. To this, I responded “Too bad you ran him face-first into the wall before helping him around that corner.”
As mentioned previously, he eventually had an intensive six-month stay in a rehab facility, regaining the ability to walk, among other things.
But, at least he’s still with us. I just visited him yesterday. I’m sure Kyle Busch’s family is wondering why Kyle had to die
Sam Ross Jr's site 