Is it possible that the delay in getting primary care due to backlog, is preventing basic conditions from being identified before they require the dire visit to ER? I know personally that the primary care visits I have scheduled for current issues are months out. Even diagnostics marked as "urgent" are scheduled 6 weeks out - due to sheer appointment availability. I cannot even imagine what it's like for those without insurance. I'm not a medical professional, but it seems a UTI or pneumonia can be caught by a primary care visit.

I can't believe that these patients with sepsis or Covid 19 were not given fluids: "Adams said there was some early reluctance in providing fluids to sepsis patients who also had COVID or pneumonia, fearing it would lead to pulmonary edema," now he says that it should be OK to change the protocols. Great medical care! Go to the hospital and die!

Has El Camino Hospital and other hospitals across the country studied the cause of these deaths? Have all these patients received treated with the Covid 19 RNA? Are these deaths related to a weakened immune system due to Covid vaccination? I am sure ECH has the records and these findings should be released.

"The prevailing theory is that sepsis deaths are up because people are taking too long to get care when they get sick or experience symptoms, Adams said."

Sure ... but WHY are persons taking too long to get care? THAT is the important question that needs to be answered.

What is the insurance status of these persons? The price of health care, even with insurance, continues to skyrocket. Those who cannot afford high costs become motivated to delay going to see a doctor unless the problem becomes absolutely serious.

68,000 people die every year in this country because they cannot afford health insurance.

The headline infers that it's the hospital's fault that deaths are up, but that's not what the article reports.