DUBLIN COUNTY coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty has recorded a verdict of death by hospital-acquired infection and once again has expressed his alarm at the high incidence of C diff infection at Loughlinstown hospital.
Evidence was given at an inquest yesterday that elderly man, who made a good recovery after an operation to fix a broken hip, deteriorated rapidly after he contracted the hospital-acquired infection commonly known as C diff.
Thomas Foley (92), Timmore, Newcastle, Co Wicklow, died at St Colmcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, on May 31st, 2007, almost two weeks after an operation to repair a fractured left hip following a fall.
Mr Foley was admitted to St Vincent's hospital on May 15th with a fractured hip and suffering from pneumonia and was transferred to Loughlinstown on May 20th for post-operative rehabilitation following a successful hip procedure three days earlier.
From the time of his admission to Loughlinstown, Mr Foley made good progress and by May 28th his pneumonia was resolving and his chest X-ray was clear. The following day, however, his condition deteriorated, with abdominal pain and a raised temperature.
On May 30th, his white cell count was noted to be raised and on May 31st he was diagnosed with an "acute abdomen" and underwent an urgent CT scan. Mr Foley collapsed later that day and was pronounced dead at 5.40pm.
A postmortem revealed that Mr Foley died of a severe bowel inflammation (pseudomembranous colitis), which had spread to his abdomen, caused by hospital superbug clostridium difficile (C diff.)
Consultant orthopaedic surgeon Eamon Kelly, who treated Mr Foley at Loughlinstown, said it was likely that he had picked up the infection in hospital.
He told the coroner that there were a lot of elderly patients at Loughlinstown who were more vulnerable to such infections and that a lack of stepdown facilities meant many were there for long periods.
Dr Geraghty said: "You have a double problem - a high level of elderly patients who are vulnerable, no microbiologist and an infection control nurse with limited powers and very little health board funding for moving people from the hospital to other facilities."
In January Dr Geraghty told an inquest into the death of Daniel King (71), who died of pneumonia with C diff as a contributory cause, that he would write to management at St Colmcille's, calling for the urgent appointment of a microbiologist.