MRSA was a factor in the death of an elderly man who was hospitalised after sustaining significant burns following an accident with a hot water bottle, an inquest has heard.
Retired fire officer Raymond Finnegan (72), Stameen Lawns, Drogheda, Co Louth, fell down a flight of stairs at his home while carrying a hot water bottle on June 25th, 2005, Dublin City Coroner's Court heard yesterday.
Gerard Mulligan told the court that his uncle telephoned him three days later saying he had taken a "turn", fallen down the stairs and awoken some time later at the bottom of the stairs soaking wet as the hot water bottle had burst. "He had bubble blisters on his face and cheeks but I didn't know his chest was so severely burned."
Mr Finnegan was taken by his nephew to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and then transferred to the burns unit at St James's Hospital, Dublin the next day.
A report from plastic surgeon David Orr from St James's said MRSA was detected when culture swabs were taken during the cleaning and the dressing of his burn wounds. MRSA was again later detected in his blood cultures, indicating septicemia.
Mr Finnegan sustained 16 per cent total body surface superficial and deep burns, according to Mr Orr's report. He died on July 24th, 2005, almost four weeks after being transferred to St James's.
A postmortem found that he died from multi-organ failure caused by bronchial pneumonia and sepsis, brought on by MRSA. The scalding he sustained also contributed to his death, as did a previous heart condition, according to the postmortem. Mr Finnegan sustained burns to his face, neck, chest, upper back and arms. Eight years previously, he had undergone a triple bypass.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell recorded a verdict of death by misadventure and said: "MRSA was one of a number of factors leading to death."
Mr Mulligan said the family were not informed at any stage that his uncle had contracted MRSA.
"I wasn't informed of MRSA. We were told his chances were poor. We were more or less expecting the worst. He lapsed in and out of consciousness."
Despite his uncle's previous medical problems, he described his health as "robust". He told the court that his uncle had been lonely since the death of his brother the year previously. "He was very lonely. His brother died in April 2004. They had lived together for years. He wasn't the same after that. He used to visit his grave every day."