Recently, news reports have described a surge in the respiratory virus RSV in children in our state. As a result, pediatric hospitals – including Mary Bridge in Tacoma and Seattle Children’s in Seattle – have seen a corresponding surge in patients. This has put a significant burden on resources: one SCH physician described being “in crisis mode” as a result.

The reasons for this appear multifactorial.

For one, this time of year is typically when such viruses tend to infect more people (one reason why we are all encouraged to get our flu shots in the fall).

Another reason is the recent/current COVID pandemic. Because many of us, including most children, were taking precautions the last couple of falls (including social distancing and masking), fewer children were getting other viruses, such as RSV.

Now, with many such precautions being relaxed, many children who otherwise would have already gotten RSV once are getting it for the first time now. That is also driving the number of children suffering serious symptoms requiring medical interventions.

Finally, during the pandemic some care for kids was delayed. That can also contribute to some children now getting sicker from RSV than they otherwise would have been with more regular care the last 2+ years.

This surge is reflected in some sobering numbers. SCH’s emergency department is currently at 100% capacity “essentially 24 hours a day”, with that going up to 300% capacity in some instances. More than half those pediatric patients are presenting for respiratory illnesses, including RSV.

With such a strain on resources, care for kids may be delayed. There may be longer waiting times to receive care. Medical personnel may need to triage patients in emergency departments to direct care first to those patients with the most severe symptoms. And there may simply be not enough beds to admit patients who otherwise would be admitted for necessary medical care.

This can certainly, then, affect the standards of care that these hospitals can provide to pediatric patients in the coming months. And unfortunately, that has the potential to cause serious harm to patients who do not receive adequate care as a result.

From the perspective of a medical malpractice attorney, such cases, just as any case, must be reviewed in the context of the care provided. That is, there may be a different standard for providing respiratory therapy for a child in June when the hospital’s medical system is not overburdened, than in December when it is.

That’s because the law that defines the standard of care in Washington specifically includes the concept of the circumstances within which the care is provided.

I think most people would agree this makes sense. It would be unfair to hold a doctor who has plenty of time and resources to appropriately treat a patient to the same standard as a doctor who has very little time, and limited resources, to treat a similar patient.

So long as that’s the reality. If the reality is that the doctor (or hospital), in the context of a surge of RSV and limited resources, still had the time, resources and ability to provide reasonable care that would have prevented the injury and did not, that is still malpractice.

Put another way, the fact that we are living in a surge of RSV cases does not give health care providers a free pass to provide substandard care.

You can read more about this here:

“Washington’s children’s hospitals ‘in crisis mode’ amid surge of respiratory viruses”