Malta patients want more information

Link: INDEPENDENT online.

A lady I know well took care of her father after he was admitted to hospital. He had surgery, very successfully, and was discharged. A weird looking boil-like thing appeared. He was seen again at hospital, not in the ward and it was supposedly treated. He went back home. He in fact had a terrible and possibly life threatening infection. Infected matter oozed from his wounds in great quantities. The family was petrified. It was horrific. It was MRSA though this lady was not told or warned. After weeks of hassling and pressure she found out it was MRSA. She had to hassle and pressure to get the hospital to do a swab test to see what it was. And then they withheld the result from her for way longer than was decent! They only told her officially 10 weeks later. In the meantime she and others at home, who were doing their damn best to save their father from dying, could have been very badly infected. One doctor (not a hospital one) just told her that her dad might not last long. She wouldn’t accept that. She fought and fought, got the treatment and eight months later he was in the clear. Her aim was never to sue the hospital, (she knew she would never win anyway), but she remains puzzled about all the secrecy and the lack of information about the very serious reality of MRSA in our hospital. And it is not a small problem. It is a big one. The big question is, why aren’t patients told?