The family of a 79-year-old retired British army serviceman who died after he acquired an MRSA infection in hospital, yesterday appealed to healthcare facilities to improve their hygiene in order to prevent similar tragedies from occurring.
Stephen O'Donovan, Farranferris Avenue, Farranree, Cork city, died on February 8th at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork. Cork City Coroners Court heard he was admitted to the hospital on December 15th last year for an angiogram angioplasty on his right leg, which was unsuccessful.
He was readmitted in late January 2007 for a repeat of the procedure to free a blockage in his leg. Doctors felt the operation was a success and he was discharged pending an outpatients appointment for a month later. His condition deteriorated when he left hospital and he developed cellulitis for which he was put on a course of antibiotics.
Mr O'Donovan was taken to the hospital on February 7th, with a high temperature and dehydration, and was placed in the coronary care unit. He had a heart attack a few hours later and was pronounced dead in the early hours of February 8th.
A postmortem by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster indicated the cause of death was sepsis due to MRSA. She said Mr O'Donovan had developed a serious infection of the heart from the MRSA. Dr Bolster told the court that he had "MRSA everywhere" but said she wasn't in a position to identify where the infection originated.
She couldn't say for certain that the pensioner contracted MRSA during his operation but said in the balance of probabilities the death was a healthcare-acquired infection. Dr Bolster said MRSA was very rare in the community and that virtually all cases in Ireland were healthcare-acquired.
The Coroners Court was told that in December 2006, when Mr O'Donovan was in the hospital, the presence of MRSA had been detected in an ulcer in his left foot. He was not deemed to have been clinically infected and the matter wasn't a cause of serious concern. Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane was told that the MRSA was colonised and there was no evidence of general infection.
After hearing the evidence in the case, the coroner said the death could be directly attributed to MRSA. She recorded a verdict of "healthcare-acquired infection" before extending her condolences to the O'Donovan family.
Speaking after the inquest, Annette O'Shea, one of Mr O'Donovan's daughters, said: "We knew it all the time that it was MRSA. We feel he would still be here if he had not picked up MRSA. My father was a widower for 23 years and nobody ever had to look after him.
"He was a grand, fit man and used to go on holidays to America and Scotland. We feel terrible about this. You would be afraid to go to hospital. Some of them just aren't clean. We got no information on this [the MRSA] from the hospital. Hospitals should let families know what is going on."