A PATIENT with MRSA was not isolated in the intensive care unit of a Dublin hospital and was nursed with other sick and vulnerable patients due to a shortage of isolation rooms in the unit, an inquest has heard.
Fintan Tallon (78) of Templeogue, Dublin, was admitted to Tallaght hospital on October 23rd, 2008, with heart failure.
Mr Tallon, who had serious heart problems, developed diarrhoea and fever two days later and was diagnosed with the winter vomiting bug, of which there were many cases in the autumn and winter, an inquest at Dublin County Coroner’s Court heard.
Mr Tallon’s condition deteriorated on the night of October 28th with a severe lung infection and he was subsequently admitted to the intensive care unit. Samples taken reported positive for MRSA a number of days later, but Mr Tallon was not moved to an isolation bed as the two isolation rooms in the ICU were already in use.
Mr Tallon was in a private room before he was admitted to ICU.
Dr Brian Kent told coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty that there would have been other sick, vulnerable patients in the ICU at the time.
Responding to a question from Dr Geraghty as to whether that situation was satisfactory, he said that, “in an ideal world, all people in ICU would have their own room”. Solicitor for the hospital Sheena Rafferty agreed with the coroner that it was a situation where there are not enough isolation rooms.
Mr Tallon’s condition deteriorated and he died of multi-organ failure due to infection due to pneumonia, with heart disease as a contributory cause.