UK NEWS

HERO WHO SURVIVED BEING BADLY BURNED IN THE WAR IS KILLED BY NHS SUPERBUG

The C. diff superbug has killed thousands

Thursday April 10,2008

By Jo Willey

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WARTIME gunner Tom Pretty was so badly burned when his bomber crashed in 1942 that he had to undergo 50 operations.

He was given the last rites three times and had his face rebuilt using pioneering plastic surgery.

But Tom pulled through and lived until he was 86 – when he went into hospital, caught a superbug and died.

Hero Tom survived his wartime ordeal thanks to the care of surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe, working from a primitive shack.

His treatment even earned Tom a place in the renowned Guinea Pig Club. But 66 years later, he was admitted to the flagship Norfolk and Norwich Hospital with a broken arm after a fall at his home near Diss. There, he contracted the C. diff bug as well as a urinary infection and pressure sore.

Tom, a widower, was kept in hospital for five weeks before being sent home to be cared for by his family. But he was unable to shake off the C. diff, despite antibiotics, and died on April 1.

His death certificate put the primary cause as heart failure and the secondary cause as C. diff and a fractured humerus.

But his son John and his daughter Julie Morris blame the “filthy” hospital ward. They claim that the floors were covered in dirt and nurses dealt with him without protective gloves and clothing to stop the spread of infection.

John, 60, from Diss, who still runs the garage business set up by his father when he left the forces in 1952, said: “It’s an outrage. We’ve lost all confidence in the NHS.

“It is so sad that this man who fought against all the odds to survive should be taken like this. Sir Archibald made medical history working from a tiny shack, while the modern NHS can’t even keep its own wards clean.”

Julie, 58, also from Diss, added: “It is just awful that his life should be claimed by this dreadful superbug.

“He must have had 50 operations because of his war injuries and he got through all those without any problem at all.

“Yet, when he went to hospital with a comparatively simple broken arm, it led to him contracting this bug which eventually killed him.”

A hospital spokesman said: “Mr Pretty would not have been discharged unless he was well enough. We would be happy to hear from his family if they have any concerns about his treatment so we can investigate.”

AND TO THINK THAT THE GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR MRSA IS THE SAME GOVERNMENT THAT FINED ME £270 FOR A FLAT TIRE...

10.04.08, 8:11pm

Thats right the evil venal government who fined me £270 for having a flat tire is the same authority that murders innocent folks who desperately need help...

Florence Nightingale said " a hospital should do the patients no harm" how wretched can the government get in that they will continually tell us that they will learn lessons,they have not learned even the most basic lesson and that is to listen to the people.

Lord in Heaven ... curse them and damn them all to damned hell the hard way.

• Posted by: Moronamid • Report Comment

HERO KILLED BY SUPERBUG

10.04.08, 5:58pm

The only way to stop these cases is to make the respective hotel managers personally responsible.
At the moment it is more in their interest to meet government targets on waiting lists etc and gain a bonus. rather than run a safe hospital.
Sack the manager in charge of the ward without compensation, or charge them with manslaughter..

• Posted by: exnomad • Report Comment

SUPERBUG

10.04.08, 4:16pm

It is significant that I am only the second person to comment on this. If it was princes Di, Paul McCartney, Gordon Brown, Osama Bin Laden or any of these illustrius, news-worthy creatures they would be lining-up to express their indignation. It's a bloody disgrace! that this man or any other person has to end his or her days in this way. Forget blaming the NHS, politicians and enyother buch of self-opinionated twits - blam,me yourselves - the people of the UK for hiding behind a curtain of 'it's not may faults', moaning and looking round for someone else to blame. In the times that we are sending men into space, creating super 'things' of all shapes and sizes - we can't even keep our hospitals free of ailments which were effecting Florence Nightingale's patients. I remeber in the 1960s when my first child was born - the then Matron of the hospital was fore-warning of just this sort of disaster..My wifes relatives always boasted that hreir sister who died in 1898 after five years bed-ridden had not a bed sore on her body - read and be very ashamed!

• Posted by: meagain • Report Comment

IT'S DISGRACEFUL

10.04.08, 12:16pm

There is no excuse for pressure sores and filthy wards. It is just bad nursing. That poor man, after all he went through his last days had to end like this. The hospital manager is not doing his/her job and should be ashamed of themselves and resign

• Posted by: Disgruntled • Report Comment