Safety & Quality of Care

Sepsis

Sepsis occurs when the body is fighting a severe infection in the bloodstream. Sepsis can cause low blood pressure and poor blood circulation, which does not allow the blood to provide vital nutrients to the body’s vital tissues and organs. In severe cases, sepsis can lead to death.

At Denver Health, given the population that we serve and their extreme underlying health conditions, our expected mortality for Sepsis is about 147, but our actual sepsis mortality is 72 – which means that 75 people who were expected to expire from Sepsis, are alive today because of the quality of care provided by Denver Health.