Amputee, 84, died from superbug MRSA

Oct 26 2007 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

mrsa

AN ELDERLY woman who was admitted to hospital for a stroke died after contracting MRSA and having her leg amputated, an inquest heard.

The family of widow Vera Roberts, 84, say they are now demanding a full apology and compensation from Wirral University Hospital Trust, as well as a review of nursing care.

The inquest at Wallasey Town Hall was told that Mrs Roberts, who lived in Parkgate, had been found on her bedroom floor on May 25 last year by her son and was taken to A&E at Arrowe Park suffering from a suspected stroke.

She was later taken to the specialist unit on Ward 23 where, the inquest was told, healthcare assistant Jeanette Murray helped her to the toilet.

Under questioning from Andrew Bridgeman, barrister for Vera Roberts’s family, Mrs Murray said that when she had tried to lift the patient to take her back to bed she had struggled and she had had to lower her to the floor. She said it had happened in “a split second” but denied it had been a fall.

Deputy ward manager Maureen Fitzmaurice told the inquest she had checked Mrs Roberts after this incident but found no sign of injury.

The next morning, when two nurses tried to help Mrs Roberts into a chair to have breakfast, her left leg buckled and she was found to have a fracture which protruded through the skin.

Mrs Roberts was referred to orthopaedic specialists who operated on her leg several times but the wound failed to heal and the elderly woman developed an infection of the “superbug” MRSA. Orthopaedic special- ist Dr David Atkinson said it was possible the fracture had occurred several days before it became obvious, but Mrs Roberts’s family dispute this and say she later told them she had trapped her leg during a fall in the toilet.

Dr James Barrett, consultant in medicine for the elderly, told the coroner’s court the only option to save her life became amputation above the knee because of the infection.

He said after the operation Mrs Roberts rallied briefly, but her condition then deteriorated and she died on July 26, 2006.

Dr Barrett said: “I still to this day do not know when that fracture occurred.”

Coroner Christopher Johnson said it was clear from the evidence Mrs Roberts had broken her leg either during the initial fall at home, in the hospital toilet or when she was stood up for breakfast, but added: “We shall never know for certain.”

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Afterwards, Mrs Roberts’s daughter Liz Morris read out a statement from the family saying the inquest had heard evidence which “raises serious questions about nursing care” at the hospital.

She said they would be taking the case further.

liammurphy