has anyone sued the heath board for getting MRSA?

shadowgirl

hi all,

i'm just wondering if anyone had tried or suceeded in making a claim againes't the Health Services for getting MRSA?

i am interested in knowing how they went about this.

my mum recently died...she had MRSA.

and i'm just interested in how u go about this.

shdowgirl

Bethany

I agree in the main with previous posts however it is not in anyway a simple issue. MRSA is methicillin resistant staphlococcus aureus.The bug staph aureus is in the community in other words everywhere. We have used and abused antibiotics for the past 30 plus years. Patients have often demanded them for illness that their grandparents just got over and doctors have overprescribed them. We are reaping the rewards with a bug that is resistant to them.
There was a time when hospital visiting was limited and when nursing staff were in charge . Patients and visitors now expect a lot of access to their relatives with very few limits and the days of nursing staff having control over nos of visitors or visiting times are a distant memory.
Previously each ward had dedicated cleaners, these women were paid and responsible for a specific area and were permanent employees. The ward sister was in charge of the cleaner; the reality is that these two ruled the roost and standards were high. With the best will in the world a contract cleaner on low wages working for a few hours would find it very difficult to maintain these standards and nursing staff are no longer in charge of them.
In addition, what is not talked about is that people are living longer and there is a big problem with the amount of elderly who are in unsuitable acute hospitals . They need care, not necessarily hospital care but until they can go home or to nursing homes they have to stay in hospital. They are old , their systems are frail and thus their immune systems are more vulnerable.
Think about why people are in hospital. They are usually not well , they are at their weakest and they are in a environment where there is, by virtue of it's function, a lot of infection.In a lot of ways, when you are sick, a hospital ,even one with no MRSA, is a most dangerous environment.
So how do you sue; very difficult to prove causation.Did the patient have it in their system before they came in or did they contract it from another patient, visitor or a hospital worker?
Better that the whole community accepts we have a role to play. Bring back permanent cleaners but be able to fire them if unsatisfactory. Pay them well and respect cleaning jobs.
Accept that hospitals are not places for every tom ,dick and harry to visit. If you're so sick as to need hospitalisation do you really need that amount of visitors?
Build proper step down facilities for the elderly. Have more single rooms . Swab all vulnerable people on admission to assess risk of contracting or transmitting infection.
Finally give people responsibility with the necessary authority to make the changes needed, regardless of budgets. It's just too important to ignore, people will still get MRSA but if all that can be done to prevent it is done, a lot less people will suffer. End of rant!!!

Mr. Incognito

I'd agree with the previous poster. Very hard to prove that
A. It was contracted in the hospital
B. It was contracted through the hospitals negligence.

Also remember that anyone taking a case of this kind better be prepared for a financial fight because the state would contest this tooth and nail to avoid an unwanted precedence.

shadowgirl

hi bethany and setantal,

bethany, its such a pity that someone like yourself isnt in charge of the hospitals...cause u sure have ur finger on whats wrong in these hospitals!!!!

but there is one thing u left out...if patints die of MRSA or of MRSA related illnesses, then it should be recorded on the death cert.
this way we have proper recorded satistics.

this is something i had to fight for when my mother died...they wanted to just put blood poisioning.

and i kicked up such a stink, in the end the doc was going to put down what illnesses contrubited to my mums death only to be told by senior doctors that he couldnt.

so whatever happened next, the coroner got involved and i was asked some questions by the coroners assistant and i was told it was very likely the coroner would insist on a post mortam...and this is what happened, i am still awaiting the results of this.

the reason i asked about if anyone sued, was i wanted to find out what the outcome of it was.

i personally wouldnt want to sue, well not for money anyway...somehow it would feel dirty...

but i would like to change the way the hospital system works, not only in relation to cleaning and nurses,doctors and management but also how they relate to the patients and their families, because we as a family felt that we were not being told very much about what was going on.
and never once did infection control approch us to advise us on what we should and shouldn't be dowhile we were with my mum.


and if suing them and making it public would make those changes happen, then yes,i would be more than willing to try make this happen.

i know though whoever takes on the health board has a fight on their hands...but nothing gets done if you do nothing.

shadowgirl

Bethany

Sincere condolences on your loss and I wouldn't disagree with you at all about the death certificate. I also think that you were let down by hospital staff in not being kept informed at all times about infection control and your mother's condition.Yes, you are probably correct in thinking that if it were possible to sue successfully, not that you want to, the issue would be taken more seriously.

Brendan552004

My mother contacted MRSA in a private nursing home early this year. She was in quarentine for 3 months, she could not leave her room. It was an unusual situation, she had MRSA in one eye. Turns out two other people in the same nursing home also had MRSA in the eye. One died.

According to the consultant in the Eye & Ear hospital it is quite rare, it was probably spread because pillowcases were not washed at a high enough temperature. Since the incident the nursing home has improved their infection control systems.