bioMérieux joins with the Rory Staunton Foundation to host the “First National Forum on Sepsis”

In vitro diagnostics provider bioMérieux is joining today with the Rory Staunton Foundation (RSF) in sponsoring the “First National Forum on Sepsis: Defeating the Killer,” in Washington, DC. The Forum is hosted by the RSF in conjunction with North Shore-LIJ Healthcare System. It will bring together political leaders, including Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY); sepsis advocates, including Konrad Reinhart, MD, Chairman, Global Sepsis Alliance, and Carl Flatley, DDS, MSD, Founder of the U.S. Sepsis Alliance; healthcare policy makers, including Thomas R. Frieden, MD, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Patrick Conway, MD, MSc, Chief Medical Officer, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and industry leaders. This event is among many leadership activities bioMérieux is engaged in during September, which is Sepsis Awareness Month.

“Undiagnosed and untreated sepsis killed our precious 12-year-old son Rory in 2012,” say RSF founders Orlaith and Ciaran Staunton. “Our mission is to increase sepsis awareness and save lives through early identification, diagnosis, and treatment.”

Early detection and treatment will be the focal point of the Forum, particularly for patients who enter the ED with sepsis but whose symptoms are misdiagnosed. Guiding the presentations and discussion will be the recent Journal of the American Medical Association study: “Hospital Deaths in Patients with Sepsis from Two Independent Cohorts.” This retrospective analysis found that the fatality rate of sepsis is increasing. It also showed that patients who entered the hospital with sepsis were more likely to die from sepsis than those who contracted sepsis from a hospital-acquired infection (HAI).

“We are happy to join with the Rory Staunton Foundation, which has been remarkably effective in bringing about legislative change to improve sepsis management in the U.S.,” says Stefan Willemsen, President and CEO of bioMérieux Inc. “bioMérieux is glad to play a leading role to provide lab professionals with diagnostic solutions, enabling them to early-identify and monitor sepsis for better patient outcomes. Learn more about the fight against sepsis.