Family calls for inquiry into man's death

The family of a man who died of MRSA, contracted in hospital, has called for the Health and Safety Authority to investigate the circumstances of a fall which led to his hospital admission.

Des Foley (48), Gracedew Road, Waterford, fell into excavation works at a building site operated by McInerney Contracting near his home and sustained fractured vertebrae.

Following three rounds of surgery over a number of months, he contracted MRSA at the Mater hospital in Dublin and died on April 10th, 2006.

Keith Synnott, a consultant orthopaedic and spinal surgeon at the Mater, said the intensive care unit (ICU) had been "under enormous pressure" and had been "trying to manage a lot of patients with limited resources".

Orla Foley told the court her brother had gone for a walk on November 24th, 2005, and returned at about 11.15pm. "He was obviously injured. He said he came across a barrier about two to three feet from the side of the road." He told her there had been no signage or lighting so he kept walking. "He said he fell into a deep hole and had somersaulted twice before he hit the ground."

She brought him to Waterford General Hospital and he was transferred to the spinal unit at the Mater on November 26th.

Mr Synnott said he attended to Mr Foley on his admission and performed surgery on November 28th to reconstruct the fractured first lumbar vertebra. The procedure was successful and he was discharged on December 5th.

An X-ray on March 22nd indicated the reconstruction cage and screws inserted during surgery had moved. Surgery was performed again on March 30th and on April 3rd.

Over the following days Mr Foley experienced more pain and his wounds were inflamed. He developed a septic respiratory tract infection. Swabs showed MRSA growth in his wounds and he was transferred to ICU.

"Aggressive intensive care therapy was needed," said Mr Synnott. He sustained a cardiac arrest and was critical. "Unfortunately at this stage he did not show improvement." He died on April 10th.

Coroner Dr Brian Farrell returned a verdict of death by misadventure. The immediate cause was disseminated intravascular coagulation - where the blood coagulates throughout the body - "secondary to MRSA and septicemia".

Dr Farrell said Mr Foley would not have been in hospital were it not for the fall, so he must return a verdict "based on the totality of the evidence".

Outside court Mr Foley's sisters, Orla and Anne, said: "Of course we would call on the HSA to investigate this." The HSA said it had looked into the incident and had no further plan to.

A spokesman said McInerneys was satisfied all appropriate safety precautions were in place at the time of Mr Foley's fall.