THE family of the first Irish patient officially to die of MRSA will take a compensation case against the state in the circuit court. If it succeeds, the case will be followed by a series of High Court actions that could cost the state up to €500m in compensation payments.

Relatives of Valentine Ryan, a 74-year-old who died at the Mercy University hospital (MUH) in Cork in 2002, said they are taking their case in the lower court because they are more interested in setting a precedent than being awarded a high level of damages.

“We want to focus the Health Service Executive’s [HSE] mind on addressing hospital infections and we believe this is the best and fastest way to do that,” said Marcas Worth, Ryan’s son-in-law.

The State Claims Agency (SCA) has received about 120 claims for compensation from patients and their families over MRSA and Clostridium difficile. However, more cases are expected if a precedent is set.

Lawyers say the success of such cases depends on whether those suing can prove to the courts that the infection was not acquired outside the hospital but through medical negligence.

So far the state has settled just one out-of-court case, brought by a man who survived after his wound was infected with MRSA. His case was strengthened by the fact that a swab taken upon his arrival was negative for MRSA. After his wound became infected, a further swab showed that he had the superbug.

Ciaran Breen, director of the SCA, said earlier this year that if there was “an adverse court finding” in an MRSA court case, the state could face up to 1,500 claims, with liabilities of €500m. The MRSA and Families Network, which has more than 200 cases on its books, is hoping that the Ryan family’s case will open the floodgates.

Ryan was the first person to have MRSA attributed as causing his death. In November 2006 Myra Cullinane, a Cork coroner, ruled that his death was due to “hospital-acquired infection”.

Ryan died after suffering renal failure and a heart attack at University College hospital, Cork, following his transfer from MUH. His family initially began a High Court case, but have now opted to sue the health minister, the HSE and MUH through the circuit court for “wrongful death caused by medical negligence”.

The case is scheduled to start before Christmas, but could be delayed by discovery motions.

“Money isn’t the issue with us, but if we can win our case it will make the HSE sit up and take notice because there are so many other cases waiting in the wings,” said Worth.

“This has been a tortuous process for us in trying to get the HSE to engage, but we are grateful the coroner in our case made a stand. That opened the doors for others. We hope the court case will do the same.”

Worth, who suffers from motor neurone disease, said he was so fearful of hospital-acquired infections that he stopped attending for his annual hospital check-ups.

“Unfortunately, this isn’t high on the HSE’s agenda in the same way cancer is now. We do have a world-class health system, but it’s being let down by management,” he said.

A former commander in the British Royal Navy, Worth said he believed that a judgment against the HSE was the only way to make the health service take responsibility for poor hygiene in hospitals.

The number of MRSA bloodstream infections recorded in Ireland in the first six months of 2008 was 240, a drop of 52 from the same period last year, according to the Health Surveillance Protection Centre. Last week, however, three newborn babies were diagnosed as having contracted MRSA on their skin in Letterkenny hospital. The HSE said that such infections occur “from time to time”.

The HSE said the source of the infection had been identified, but refused to divulge who or what this was because of “patient confidentiality”.

Rosemary Cassidy, a local member of MRSA and Families Network, said this was unacceptable. “I was speaking to the mother of one of those babies and she is very distressed and worried about her three other children,” she said.

“Other mothers are being recalled and they are upset. We can’t be satisfied that the ward is clear until the HSE reveals the source of the infection.”

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