NHS Lanarkshire sued over flesh-eating bug death of grandmother Lorraine Dickson at Wishaw General

She said she wants to make sure that no other family has to experience what she went through in the days before her mother, Lorraine Dickson, died in October 2011 aged 72 after developing necrotising fasciitis. The civil damages case against NHS Lanarkshire is due to be heard at Hamilton Sheriff Court in December.

Lorraine Dickson

Mrs Boyle, a podiatrist and mother-of-three, said: "I haven't had a chance to grieve my mum's death for six years because this case has been going on. My mum has got to have died for a reason, and if something changes for other patients then at least the pain and suffering she went through will have been worth something. No one else should have to see their mother suffering the way I did."

Mrs Dickson, who had relapsed breast cancer, was admitted to Wishaw General in September 2011 after developing a build up of fluid in her abdominal cavity - known as malignant ascites. The condition was a complication linked to her cancer, and the fluid had to be drained using a tube inserted through Mrs Dickson's side into her abdomen.

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Mrs Dickson, a former nurse and secretary who had lost her husband to Alzheimer's disease eight months before her breast cancer was diagnosed as having returned, was said by Mrs Boyle to have been "very fit" despite the disease.

She said: "She was up and about, walking, talking to people, eating her meals. She was asking me to bring in Christmas catalogues so that she could plan what presents to buy for her grandchildren."

However, during her admission Mrs Dickson developed E. coli, which progressed into necrotising fasciitis - an extremely deadly bacterial infection which rapidly destroys soft tissues.

Mrs Boyle said: "The infection had spread from underneath her right breast to the top of her thigh. I was told that if they had tried to remove the tissue surgically, it would have looked like a 'shark bite'. I was told she probably wouldn't last 24 hours, but my mum was a fighter. She survived another 10 days."

Wishaw General

Mrs Dickson died on October 22 2011, and necrotising fasciitis was cited as the number one cause of death on her death certificate.

The case rests on the claim that the drainage tube was left in too long - four days rather than six hours - and re-inserted after falling onto a bathroom floor at the hospital, and that this is what led Mrs Dickson to contract E coli and subsequently necrotising faciitis.

However, NHS Lanarkshire deny liability for Mrs Dickson's death. Lawyers for the health board argue that there were conflicting views on how to manage chest drains at that time, and that in the absence of any clear guidelines NHS Lanarkshire cannot be blamed for negligence.

They also say that it cannot be proven that the chest drain was the cause of the E. coli infection which triggered necrotising fasciitis. Infections are a common risk factor of ascites drainage, occurring in around 20 per cent of cases, and contracting an infection does not in itself mean that the drain was incorrectly inserted.

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Mrs Boyle said: "I knew my mother was going to die. If she had died of cancer I could have accepted it. But she died too soon, and she died from an infection which she should never have had."

Gillian McAuley, Wishaw General Hospital chief of nursing services, said: “We are unable to comment on any civil legal action against NHS Lanarkshire in relation to this case as legal proceedings are ongoing.”