You are called to a long-term care facility for a patient with altered mental status and a fever. The staff reports that the patient has an indwelling catheter and he has been passing dark colored urine. He is hypotensive with an O2 saturation of 87 percent. You should suspect:

A) life-threatening sepsis.
B) a severe spinal infection.
C) a blocked intraventricular shunt.
D) a contaminated ostomy bag

A