A friend of mine has had his right leg amputated and his left foot amputated after contracting MRSA whilst having a routine foot operation. I don't begrudge her the money but I'd like to see greater compensation for all.
She was working after the botched surgery (2002), so it was presumably argued that she could have continued to work and earn a load of cash if it weren't for the fact she contracted MSSA.
That really is a lot of money. Who foots the bill?
And 'loss of earnings'???? Even before she was on the front pages of glossy magazines with her nice new lips I can't remember anything of note she has done bar getting goosed in an alleyway in Quadrophenia and prick teasing Neil Morrisey in men behaving badly. Surely the royalties from those cannot come anywhere near that much for the rest of her working life?????
She didn't suffer like bingaddicks mate, and I think it would be an insult to suggest she has.
In actual fact, Leslie Ash DID suffer enormously as a result of catching MSSA, she came within two hours of dying FFS - what more do people want?
For what its worth I also believe 5 million is excessive, even given that she will need private medical care and attention for the rest of her life.
However, I have read up on the case and after contracting MSSA at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital while being treated for rib injuries and a punctured (apparently caused by falling during a sex session with her husband Lee Chapman, although others have claimed differently).
The infection was picked up after she was given an epidural with an unclean needle and the injection took hold of her central nervous system in her spine - even I know that's the worst place for an infection to take hold.
She was in hospital for THREE MONTHS, and for a couple of weeks she was in intensive care and they did not know if she would live. For most of her stay in hospital she was bed-ridden and unable to complete even the most basic tasks for herself.
After going through that she came out of hospital still unable to walk unaided and even now, three years later, she can only walk with the aid of a walking stick - how would any of us fancy being lumbered with a walking stick for life at just 47?
The money will be paid out by the NHS Litigation Authority which was set up to cover these particular cases and they will have their own funds to make the payout from but you can pretty much guess where those funds came from.
As I said, the 5 million is OTT in my view but you must take into account the suffering she has gone through, and will continue to go through for the rest of her life and the fact that she will never work again, not just as an actress but in doing any work at all.
Maybe it will take these sorts of high profile cases to get the NHS to take hospital infections seriously.
Its unbelievable that the government has everyone on their edge about Islamic terrorists when the facts are you are 1500 times more likely to be killed by MRSA/MSSA than by a terrorist attack....
I guess she was an emergency admittance and went into an NHS A&E otherwise she probably had private health care.
So because the NHS has to pick up on all the emergencies and then cocks it up they foot the bill.
I am not against Private Health Care not least because I have benefited in the past but they cream off all the profitable work and leave the NHS to do the rest. Yet they benefit from trained staff and in some cases facilities.
This ladys life has been ruined. If the cost of settling these cases is so high perhaps it may actually lead to something being done about the problem.
[quote][cite]Posted By: DJ Davey Dave[/cite]The money is to be paid by the NHS. It is wrong, all wrong.[/quote]
Like it or not, the NHS made a very serious error and now has to compensate the victim, that's justice.
As for setting other MRSA compensation claims with multimillion payouts, well, those will have to be judged on their individual merits as this case will have been.
I don't see how its wrong that the NHS should pay compensation to someone whose life has basically been bolloxed up by their incompetence. It is a negligence case, pure and simple.
Of course, there is a sour taste that the compensation will be paid from public funds but what is the alternative? No private insurer is going to touch the NHS in a million years so there is no other option apart from the NHS refusing to pay any compensation claims at all, which I doubt would be legally viable.
Anyone criticising the compensation claim should think long and hard about how they would react in Leslie Ash's position. Would they really say to the C&W Hospital, "No worries, guys. I know your negligence nearly killed me and has wrecked my life but lets chalk this one up for experience."
Of course not.
This case is one of the very few downsides of having a national health service.
[cite]Posted By: DaveMehmet[/cite]Of course the overriding question here is: Lesley Ash, would you?
Certainly not , aside from the fact that I'm married , she's also married . I'm at work during the day and she runs a restaurant in the evenings and weekends it would be difficult to arrange . Plus she probably gets followed by the paparazzi - I don't want to end up on the front of the shopper .
[cite]Posted By: DaveMehmet[/cite]Of course the overriding question here is: Lesley Ash, would you?
Well, if she needs a stick to move about I can't imagine it being too much fun - although the stick could come in handy I spose. That said, even now she's probably a damnsight more athletic than me!
Comments
Lee Chapman was never worth that much.
Just stay strong Lee, remember 'eyes on the prize son, eyes on the prize'.
The legal system is a mess - the more you spend on defence, legal council, the more money you get in compensation.
What as the front page girl for "Plastic Surgery Weekly"
And 'loss of earnings'???? Even before she was on the front pages of glossy magazines with her nice new lips I can't remember anything of note she has done bar getting goosed in an alleyway in Quadrophenia and prick teasing Neil Morrisey in men behaving badly. Surely the royalties from those cannot come anywhere near that much for the rest of her working life?????
She didn't suffer like bingaddicks mate, and I think it would be an insult to suggest she has.
For what its worth I also believe 5 million is excessive, even given that she will need private medical care and attention for the rest of her life.
However, I have read up on the case and after contracting MSSA at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital while being treated for rib injuries and a punctured (apparently caused by falling during a sex session with her husband Lee Chapman, although others have claimed differently).
The infection was picked up after she was given an epidural with an unclean needle and the injection took hold of her central nervous system in her spine - even I know that's the worst place for an infection to take hold.
She was in hospital for THREE MONTHS, and for a couple of weeks she was in intensive care and they did not know if she would live. For most of her stay in hospital she was bed-ridden and unable to complete even the most basic tasks for herself.
After going through that she came out of hospital still unable to walk unaided and even now, three years later, she can only walk with the aid of a walking stick - how would any of us fancy being lumbered with a walking stick for life at just 47?
The money will be paid out by the NHS Litigation Authority which was set up to cover these particular cases and they will have their own funds to make the payout from but you can pretty much guess where those funds came from.
As I said, the 5 million is OTT in my view but you must take into account the suffering she has gone through, and will continue to go through for the rest of her life and the fact that she will never work again, not just as an actress but in doing any work at all.
Maybe it will take these sorts of high profile cases to get the NHS to take hospital infections seriously.
Its unbelievable that the government has everyone on their edge about Islamic terrorists when the facts are you are 1500 times more likely to be killed by MRSA/MSSA than by a terrorist attack....
Maybe we should start a "War on Cleanliness."
Well argued Ormy, I didn't know much about Ash's case.
So every case similar must recieve a similar payment?
So because the NHS has to pick up on all the emergencies and then cocks it up they foot the bill.
I am not against Private Health Care not least because I have benefited in the past but they cream off all the profitable work and leave the NHS to do the rest. Yet they benefit from trained staff and in some cases facilities.
This ladys life has been ruined. If the cost of settling these cases is so high perhaps it may actually lead to something being done about the problem.
Like it or not, the NHS made a very serious error and now has to compensate the victim, that's justice.
As for setting other MRSA compensation claims with multimillion payouts, well, those will have to be judged on their individual merits as this case will have been.
I don't see how its wrong that the NHS should pay compensation to someone whose life has basically been bolloxed up by their incompetence. It is a negligence case, pure and simple.
Of course, there is a sour taste that the compensation will be paid from public funds but what is the alternative? No private insurer is going to touch the NHS in a million years so there is no other option apart from the NHS refusing to pay any compensation claims at all, which I doubt would be legally viable.
Anyone criticising the compensation claim should think long and hard about how they would react in Leslie Ash's position. Would they really say to the C&W Hospital, "No worries, guys. I know your negligence nearly killed me and has wrecked my life but lets chalk this one up for experience."
Of course not.
This case is one of the very few downsides of having a national health service.
Erm.............yes
Not now, in fact not since that dirty Hamster gave her one in the alley way in Brighton......
Certainly not , aside from the fact that I'm married , she's also married . I'm at work during the day and she runs a restaurant in the evenings and weekends it would be difficult to arrange . Plus she probably gets followed by the paparazzi - I don't want to end up on the front of the shopper .
Her sister on the other hand , yes , like a shot
Yes, there is an NHS equivalent here in Oz.
Well, if she needs a stick to move about I can't imagine it being too much fun - although the stick could come in handy I spose. That said, even now she's probably a damnsight more athletic than me!