{"id":61318,"date":"2025-08-20T13:58:42","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T13:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/royal-papworth-hospital-pays-out-after-bacteria-linked-deaths\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T13:58:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T13:58:44","slug":"royal-papworth-hospital-pays-out-after-bacteria-linked-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/royal-papworth-hospital-pays-out-after-bacteria-linked-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Royal Papworth Hospital pays out after bacteria-linked deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Katy Prickett<\/span><\/p>\n

BBC News, Cambridgeshire<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"FamilyFamily handouts<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Anne Martinez (left) and Karen Starling died the year after undergoing double lung transplants at the hospital<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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A hospital trust has paid a “six-figure settlement package” in the case of nine patients following an outbreak of a bacterial infection linked to its water supply<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Three patients died and two of these cases were as a result of complications connected to the outbreak at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, according to lawyers.<\/p>\n

Lung transplant patients Karen Starling, 54, of Ipswich, Suffolk, died in February 2020, and Anne Martinez, of Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, died in December 2020.<\/p>\n

Eilish Midlane, the hospital’s chief executive, said: “Lessons have been learnt [and] regulations revised to seek to avoid a similar occurrence in the UK.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The trust denied liability but resolved each of the claims in out-of-court settlements, which were secured following a civil claim pursued as a group action.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mrs Martinez was a teacher and she died in December 2020, nearly 18 months after her transplant<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Six further patients suffered serious complications that continue to affect them following the outbreak of Mycobacterium abscessus (M.abscessus), according to legal firm Irwin Mitchell.<\/p>\n

Lawyers said the “six-figure settlement package” was agreed in connection with the nine cases.<\/p>\n

M.abscessus is a bacterial infection <\/a>which is a particular risk to people who are vulnerable and immunosuppressed, such as lung transplant patients.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Solicitor Jatinder Paul said patients were admitted to “this world-renowned hospital… in the hope of a better life”.<\/p>\n

“While the surgical care itself hasn’t been an issue, the events that unfolded have been devastating for them and their families,” he said. <\/p>\n

He added large public buildings with complex water systems, such as hospitals, can be at an increased risk of waterborne contamination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Inquests were held in 2022 into the deaths of Mrs Starling and Mrs Martinez, who both underwent double-lung transplants in 2019 and died the following year. <\/p>\n

Keith Morton, the assistant coroner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, found that their M. abscessus was a hospital-acquired infection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement, Mrs Martinez’s sons Tony, 43, and Andrew 38, said: “We hoped that when mum underwent her transplant it would be the start of a brighter future.<\/p>\n

“Even six years on from mum’s transplant, it’s difficult to comprehend the events that unfolded.”<\/p>\n

Mrs Starling’s husband Derek, said: “Losing Karen in such circumstances is something our family will never truly come to terms with.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The hospital’s chief executive said lessons had been learned at a local and national level<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Ms Midlane said her “thoughts go out to the patients and families involved”.<\/p>\n

“We recognise this [settlement] has been possible due to the cooperative approach adopted by all parties, for which we are very grateful.<\/p>\n

“Providing safe and compassionate patient care is our top priority and as part of our investigation in 2019, we worked tirelessly to investigate, understand, manage and control the outbreak.<\/p>\n

“As acknowledged by Irwin Mitchell, we acted appropriately and complied with all the relevant regulations.<\/p>\n

She said lessons had been learned at a local and national level.<\/p>\n

“Clinicians at Royal Papworth Hospital are now at the forefront of research into the disease,” she added. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katy Prickett BBC News, Cambridgeshire Family handouts Anne Martinez (left) and Karen Starling died the year after undergoing double lung transplants at the hospital A hospital trust has paid a “six-figure settlement package” in the case of nine patients following an outbreak of a bacterial infection linked to its water supply. Three patients died and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[64],"tags":[18220,779,79,4666,3082,1331],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61318"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61320,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61318\/revisions\/61320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}