Hospital bug victims look at new legal line
Workplace regulations could provide route to compensation
Hospital patients who have contracted the MRSA "superbug" while in hospital could have a claim for compensation under workplace health and safety legislation, according to a leading firm of personal injury lawyers.
Thompsons solicitors believe that the Control of Hazardous Substances Regulations could provide a good claim in law. The regulations impose a strict duty on employers to prevent or control exposure to subsances hazardous to health. They extend to micro-organisms, which Thompsons believe would cover the MRSA bug.
No judicial ruling has yet been given in such a case, but out-of-court settlements have been made in some cases in England and Wales.
Thompsons claims that about 1,000 people a year die from hospital-acquired MRSA, and many more suffer from the bug, sometimes with long-term consequences. Cases alleging that the bug was negligently allowed to spread are difficult to prove.
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