A man who leaned over and put his hand in a hot tub in the garden of a property he was viewing contracted Legionnaires' disease from it and died six weeks later.
A Dublin city inquest was told that Robert Brophy (69) went to the property in Cunningham Drive, Dalkey, Co Dublin, on March 7th, 2003. With his wife and one of his daughters he was taken around the house and garden by the auctioneer.
The cover was taken off the hot tub in the garden and he leaned over it to take a better look. He felt the hot water remarking: "Oh God, that's fantastic!". They left and thought no more about it.
Five days later Mr Brophy of Woodstown Rise, Woodstown Village, Knocklyon, Dublin, became unwell and after visiting his GP, he was admitted to Tallaght hospital on March 15th.
He was transferred to Blanchardstown hospital on March 18th as Tallaght had no ICU beds. When he worsened still further, he was taken to Beaumont Hospital, where he died on April 17th, 2003.
The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, was given a report from the Eastern Health Board public health office which sent a sample from the hot tub to a laboratory service in England which confirmed the bacteria was there.
He said he would record a verdict of misadventure. Mr Brophy died as a result of respiratory and organ failure due to an infection from Legionnaires' disease.
He said: "The report moves the level of proof to beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Brophy contracted Legionnaires' disease having had contact with the hot water tub on March 7th, 2003."
He said the report also stated that the incubation period was several days which would also confirm the proof.
In a statement, Sylvia Brophy said she, her husband and one of their daughters had gone to view the house in Cunningham Drive, Dalkey, on March 7th, 2003.
They viewed the house and then went into the garden. The auctioneer showed them the hot tub and removed the cover. He said to her husband that he should feel how hot the water was. Mr Brophy put his hand down over the tub.
"He put his hand in the hot tub and he said, 'God, that's fantastic'," she said in a statement.
Five days later, on March 12th Mr Brophy began to feel unwell with flu-like symptoms. They went to their family GP but he was no better and they returned to the surgery on March 15th. She referred them to the A&E at Tallaght hospital and also phoned as she felt he was quite ill.
Medical notes showed that Mr Brophy arrived in A&E at 5.19pm and he was assessed as an urgent case. He was seen by a doctor for the first time over five hours later at 11.10pm.
A doctor who saw Mr Brophy on March 16th at 8am, Dr Chong Yew Tang, said he was very feverish with a high temperature. He considered he could have community-acquired pneumonia and gave antibiotic therapy.
They took blood culture and sputum samples but the results were negative. He was admitted into a ward at 7.45pm that day.
Mr Brophy was transferred to Blanchardstown hospital where he was diagnosed with Legionnaire's disease and later to Beaumont where further tests confirmed the diagnosis.
Dr Farrell said under present legislation the court could only call one doctor to give evidence so he could not establish the full medical facts in a case.