Superbug killed patient in Belfast hospital

A Northern Ireland man died from hospital-acquired infection including the MRSA superbug, a jury found today.

Brendan McDowell, 43, spent almost two months battling a series of crippling viruses at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast in 2004 after being admitted for an operation to repair his broken back.

An inquest into his February 2004 death heard he had probably acquired MRSA from the hands of nursing staff and his widow Ann McDowell made hard-hitting allegations about the state of the facility.

“Today’s finding is a truly historic one for a health system that continues to deny that it is responsible for the deaths of patients in its hospitals,” she said outside the courthouse.

“Within an hour of Brendan’s passing away I said I was not going to bury his death with him.

“When Brendan died we were met with a wall of absolute denial on the part of the Royal, there was a steadfast refusal to face up to its responsibilities for what it had caused. That policy of denial continued throughout this inquest.”

Mrs McDowell said this was the first inquest to blame a hospital-acquired infection for a death in the North.

Mr McDowell, of Mullartown Heights, Annalong, was diagnosed with MRSA on December 28 after undergoing surgery to repair his broken back.

His widow earlier told the seven-day hearing she had to change his dirty sheets herself and described the ward where he was kept as filthy and unsafe for patients.

Her husband’s condition deteriorated despite a series of antibiotics which he was given and he suffered catastrophic multi-organ failure as well as an inflammatory condition known as SERS.

His wife added: “How can the public be assured that the health authorities here are doing all they can to prevent patients dying from MRSA and other hospital-acquired infections when hospitals go to the lengths the Royal has to deny what is happening on their wards?

“I spent the last eight weeks of Brendan’s life fighting to save him.

“Since his death I have found myself fighting the system instead.”

The self-employed digger driver was working on a building site in Newcastle, Co Down, when a chimney collapsed on him and broke several bones.

The jury of six men and two women found the primary cause of death was multi-organ failure, SERS and the hospital acquired infections as well as drug allergy.

He developed a rash for a number of weeks into his course of medication and doctors were forced to abandon all antibiotics for several days.

Deputy coroner Brian Sherrard told the hearing: “The thoughts of the entire court are with the McDowell family which has suffered a most grievous loss of a much-loved husband and father in very dreadful circumstances.”

Mrs McDowell was in tears as the verdict was read out and was comforted by family members.

She kept a vigil at her husband’s bed, at one stage sleeping on seats in the ward and claimed that she was exhausted complaining about his care, about the dirt and the squalor.

At one point she made her own notice to stick on the ward door warning her husband had MRSA.

Nurses at the hospital have given evidence that all appropriate measures to prevent infection were taken, including wearing gloves, and doctors treating Mr McDowell said he was clear of infection by the time he died on February 21.