Heart victim died of superbug

Dennis Best, 72, developed the bacterial infection in his leg after an exploratory surgical procedure during a three-week stay at the Hastings hospital.

An inquest last week heard the retired dry cleaning manager left the Conquest on June 29, but he developed severe swelling in his leg and was re-admitted almost a fortnight later.

Tests on July 15 revealed he had the killer disease - which has become resistant to most antibiotics - and he died on September 9.

Mr Best, of Lychgates Close, had suffered a massive heart attack in the car park of his GP, Dr Hawley's surgery at Bexhill Old Town on June 7.

He was rushed to the Conquest where doctors performed a series of tests, including an angiogram on June 17 where wires were fed to his heart from the artery in his leg.

Routine tests five days later found he was free of the MRSA bug and he was able to leave after another week.

Radiologist John Giles said: "Without the MRSA I think it is quite possible he would have made a recovery."

However his left leg, where the surgery had been carried out, began to swell after a cocktail of anti-blood clotting drugs made it hard to stop the bleeding.

Metal scaffolds, or stents, had been inserted to hold the blood vessels open and, according to coroner Alan Craze, it is likely the bacteria would have collected around these foreign bodies.

Pathologist Walter Barnes explained: "If MRSA is on the skin you can treat it with antiseptic and hope to eradicate it that way, but once it is internal it is much harder to treat."

Mr Craze said: "Nobody can say when and precisely where the bug got in. On the balance of probability, the angiogram is likely to have been the precipitating factor.

"Sadly MRSA exists and now the Government is recognising it and putting resources in which it would better have put in five years ago.

"I cannot identify anything which I can say in terms of his treatment: 'It would have been wiser not to do that'."

Recording a verdict of death from natural causes, he said: "It seems to me that the choices that were made cannot be criticised - he was given the correct and proper treatment.

"What we do know is that on June 22 a report was given which showed he had not got MRSA.

"I think he did not have the infection until he came back into hospital on July 11 but that is speculation - the simple fact is that we do not know."

East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust offered sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr Best and added: "The Trust takes matters of infection control extremely seriously and has recently launched the Cleanyourhands campaign in order to raise awareness of hand hygiene."