SELLY OAK "SUE" THREAT TO SUN OVER MRSA STORY

16-04-2008

Bosses at Selly Oak Hospital are taking legal advice after the Sun newspaper ran a front-page story yesterday, alleging that an injured soldier returning from Afghanistan caught MRSA on the wards.

Fiona Alexander, communications queen at the University Hospital Trust which runs Selly Oak, was seething at the article which – in the way of these things – was picked up by other papers and news outlets as if it were fact.

As a former editor of the Birmingham Post, she’s well aware of how the media game works, but even she seemed shocked at how the tabloid had acted.

She says she received her first call about the story at 6.30pm on Monday night just hours before the paper was due to be published, and spent an hour on the phone to the journalist.

He was understandably excited about his scoop, which alleged that Ben McBean, who returned from Afghanistan minus an arm and a leg after being blown up by the Taliban, had contracted MRSA on the supposedly dirty wards at Selly Oak.

This played to an existing agenda, popular in some military circles, that there should be a dedicated medical facility for returning troops – an idea which has had some support on this website (see link here).

As extra spice, McBean had been described by Prince Harry (who travelled back from Aghanistan with him) as a “hero”, giving the story a near-perfect Sun combination of royalty, a man in uniform, and government-bashing; all that was lacking was the Page 3 lovely perched on his bed.

According to Alexander, there was just one snag with the story. As she patiently but forcefully made clear, it wasn’t true.

When McBean came into Selly Oak he already had MRSA; the hospital knew this because all patients are screened for the infection when they are admitted.

Around 30% of the population carry the MRSA bacterium at any one time – but this only becomes dangerous when a wound is opened. The unfortunate soldier was amongst them.

Despite these facts being made known to them, the paper carried on regardless and published a typical piece of tabloid outrage, suggesting that “filthy wards” and “poor cleanliness” were to blame (The Sun link here).

As a result, the normally unflappable Alexander is consulting lawyers today with a view to suing the newspaper – which, interestingly, already seems to be changing its line.

In a “Sun Says” editorial, it admits “nobody knows for sure where Ben picked up this devastating infection” – although it then repeats the slur that poor hygiene was the probable cause (The Sun link here)

On The Stirrer, we never hesitate to criticise our local institutions where necessary and only last week we reported on University Hospitals Trust’s relatively high (but improving) level of MRSA outbreaks (see link here).

Yet the simple fact remains that Selly Oak Hospital was not the primary cause of Ben McBean’s infection – even though, thanks to The Sun, this is now what the public believe.

Discuss this on the Stirrer Forum.