Gabby's Law

A law known as Gabby’s Law will require Illinois hospitals to be better prepared to recognize and treat patients with sepsis or septic shock. The legislation is named in honor of Gabby Galbo of Monticello, who passed away in 2012 due to untreated sepsis. Following her death, Gabby’s parents, Liz and Tony, began work to pass this legislation, which received unanimous support in both the Senate and the House, to honor her memory.

Gabby Galbo developed an infection from an undetected tick bite that led to sepsis. This law requires hospitals to:

• Implement an evidence-based process for quickly recognizing and treating adults and children with sepsis.
• Train staff to identify and treat patients with possible sepsis.
• Collect sepsis data to improve the quality of care and provide to the state (e.g. sepsis data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting program).