MRSA - solicitors discover loophole
08/12/2006
MRSA loophole to help victims
I would like to thank you and your colleagues for the kindness shown to myself and my wife. I class myself as very fortunate to have met such kind and caring people.
Raymond, Hertfordshire
Thousands of patients who have suffered injuries after contracting the MRSA bug in hospital were given hope of compensation yesterday as solicitors revealed they had discovered a legal loophole.
They have begun using a plea more common in industrial cases in their legal battles to get compensation.
MRSA compensation claims
Lawyers estimate that several hundred cases against hospitals are now in the hands of solicitors around the country. They say 1,000 to 3,000 cases of "significant injury" were caused by MRSA caught in hospitals.
The Control of Substances Harmful to Health (COSHH), a regulation that requires employers to control exposure to harmful substances, has become a useful weapon in their cases.
Phil Barnes, of Anthony Collins solicitors in Birmingham, has used the COSHH but he pointed out that all similar cases had so far been settled out of court.
"We need a case citing COSHH to be tested in the court," he said. "If a case went against a hospital trust then I believe it would result in further cases coming forward.
"We would not pursue a case on COSHH alone but if was successful in a court it would seriously put trusts and the Government in difficulty.
"MRSA cases are complicated and there are two types of case. One is where you argue that a trust has been negligent in letting a patient get MRSA. The other is that there was a delay in diagnosis or treatment of MRSA."
The regulation allows for "biological substances" to be included among harmful substances which solicitors argue can apply to MRSA.
MRSA Solicitor
Sarah Rowland, from Irwin Mitchell (incorporating Alexander Harris), a solicitors firm with nearly 100 MRSA cases, said: "I have been pleading it in cases for quite a while. It is a tool in our armoury. Eventually it may help claimants succeed. But we have had no court judgement as yet."
Susan MacQueen, a member of the Government's specialist advisory committee on antibacterial resistance, said COSHH presented the "best route" for patients when pursing claims.
"They have traditionally been very hard to proceed with but lawyers seem to have come up with a way of moving forward with them," she said.
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