Can You Believe the C.Diff Headlines?
25 July 2008
The Healthcare Commission’s newly formed definition of C.Diff cases resulted in a projected statistic that “90 patients had died” (i.e. the mean estimated figure between 47 and 127). The “death toll”, was then repeated in Parliament, national TV and press and became a “fact” which the public have accepted as accurate. The headline “90 patients killed by C.Diff at the Maidstone Hospital” is actually an extrapolation of data from a statistical review of deaths associated with a C.Diff infection during 2 periods of infection outbreak.
Similarly the headlines which followed the award of £5M damages to actress Ms Ash declared she had allegedly “caught a strain of MRSA from an epidural needle which came loose” and received “the highest compensation for contracting a hospital infection”.
The true facts as reported by Sian Morgan of Bevan Brittan (full acknowledgements to her) are that Ms Ash was in fact infected with MSSA (meticillin susceptible staphylococcus aureus) which is not a strain of MRSA. MSSA was found to be present at the epidural needle site but was nothing to do with a “loose needle” and the claim was settled, not because Ms Ash “contracted” MSSA, but because the Trust accepted the infection could have been treated more appropriately. The £5M (reported as £500,000 initially) reflects the considerable loss of earnings incurred by this particular celebrity Claimant and not for the pain and suffering element.
It is understandable why and how the general public and bereaved families might interpret such headlines in a different light from reality!
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