ABSTRACT
Infective endocarditis is a rare but dangerous condition. There are approximately 150 cases a year in the UK and the mortality is still perhaps as high as 30%. By far the commonest type of infection is bacterial and therefore its treatment is with high dose antibiotics, but before the era of such treatment the illness was universally fatal and known as malignant endocarditis. Its importance medico-legally is that it is nearly always preventable with a short course of antibiotics but, if this fails to happen, disaster can occur.
