Family Set To Sue After Legionnaire's Death

THE family of a man who died after contracting Legionnaire s Disease at Addenbrooke s Hospital are set to launch legal proceedings. The news follows a recent ruling by a coroner who found that satisfactory new measures have been introduced at the hospital

THE family of a man who died after contracting Legionnaire's Disease at Addenbrooke's Hospital are set to launch legal proceedings.

The news follows a recent ruling by a coroner who found that satisfactory new measures have been introduced at the hospital following the death of 42-year-old Ely resident Simon Tait.

David Morris, the coroner for South and West Cambridge, ruled this week that bosses at the hospital in Cambridge had taken sufficient steps to limit further cases of the disease that was contracted by the 42-year-old Ely resident.

Mr Tait, who was undergoing treatment at the hospital for Leukaemia in March and had recently received a bone marrow transplant, contracted the disease and died on March 25.

An investigation following Mr Tait's death found that the 42-year-old had contracted the bug from hospital shower units and a subsequent review of procedure was undertaken.

Mr Tait of Winfarthing Court, Ship Lane, was the first patient to have contracted Legionnaire's whilst at the hospital and the disease itself remains incredibly rare, with only 300-400 cases recorded annually in the UK.

Delivering his verdict, Mr Morris said: "I am satisfied that there was no want of concern on the part of the responsible clinicians and everything that might reasonably have been done to overcome Mr Tait's deteriorating condition appears to have been done.

"I find no element of gross failure on the part of the hospital or its staff.

"I am satisfied that with the revised/improved systems now in place, every precaution has now been taken to minimise any future incidence, but complete elimination of risk is not possible."

Mr Morris went on to rule that Mr Tait's death was as a result of the Legionnaire's though his immune system was severely compromised by his recent bone marrow transplant.