STUART — A circuit judge has thrown out a lawsuit from one of several people who claimed they contracted a dangerous staph infection while at Martin Memorial Hospital.

According to court records filed this week, Circuit Judge William Roby dismissed Louise and Alexander Webster’s medical malpractice case against the hospital claiming Louise contracted methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, in 2002 after having ankle surgery.

In his ruling, Roby said the Websters failed to prove that Webster contracted the infection because of any negligence on the hospital’s part.

For the case to be proven based on the Websters’ theory that she contracted the MRSA in the operating room, Roby said attorneys Gloria Seidule and Kevin O’Connor would have had to show evidence that there were breaches in Webster’s care during the operation.

But Roby in his ruling wrote that the plaintiffs’ experts could not provide opinions as to whether the hospital cared poorly for Webster nor could they link her infection to her stay at the hospital.

Roby dismissed the suit and barred the Websters from refiling it.
The Websters were among the first group of six former Martin Memorial patients who filed suit against the hospital in 2005, claiming they contracted the potentially deadly infection there.

At least a half dozen more people filed similar suits over the next two years. The other cases are still open.

Tags: contract, court, hospital, judge, lawsuit, malpractice, medical, MRSA, staph infection, Stuart, surgery

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