Hospital accused of covering up MRSA case negligence

A CORK hospital has been accused of trying to cover up negligence by not allowing staff to be interviewed, following the death of man who contracted MRSA in its care.

The Mercy University Hospital is expected to be asked in the High Court, on Monday, to make available to solicitors the staff who treated MRSA victim Valentine Ryan from Carrigaline, Co Cork.

According to legal documents submitted on behalf of his wife, Eileen, the deceased had been admitted to hospital to undergo tests for a kidney infection in February 2002. Mrs Eileen Ryan stated, in an affidavit, that her husband had a catheter inserted which was infected with hospital superbug MRSA and his condition deteriorated to such an extent he suffered renal failure and died on April 25, 2002.

According to the affidavit of the family’s solicitor, Brian Lynch, the death certificate stated “the primary cause of death was acute renal failure secondary to MRSA septicaemia, secondary to supra pubic catheter colonisation”.

The affidavit states that Mrs Ryan wants to establish whether the hospital authorities were negligent and whether a fatal injuries action can be maintained. Mr Lynch said he submitted to the coroner a list of witnesses that the Ryan family were anxious to have called by coroner’s court to give evidence at an inquest, planned for next Thursday.

The solicitor said he wrote to a number of hospital staff, requesting interviews and the possibility of them being potential witnesses at both the inquest and at likely court hearing.

He was allegedly refused access to the staff by the hospital’s solicitors. He wrote to the hospital’s legal advisers informing them that ‘there is no property in a witness and pointing out, inter alia, that the defendant’s actions in impeding access to potential witnesses in contemplated legal proceedings and further with regard to the upcoming inquest was a direct interference with the administration of justice and constituted contempt of court’.

With no success in securing the witnesses, Mr Lynch yesterday brought proceedings at the High Court. He was granted permission to seek an injunction.

Deputy chief executive of the Mercy University Hospital Jim Corbett said yesterday: “It is the understanding of the hospital that it is the role of the coroner to investigate the circumstances of any death.”