Legionnaires’ outbreak: Victim sues ‘to find why outbreak happened’

• Terry Holeran wants answers about how the outbreak occurred

• One person has died, with 41 confirmed cases. The total number of overall cases is up to 89

Terry Holeran is one of 41 people confirmed as having contracted the disease in Edinburgh and is understood to be the first to take out legal action.

He is seeking answers from NHS Lothian, Edinburgh city council and the Scottish Government as to why the outbreak happened, his legal team said.

Mr Holeran is also demanding assurances that lessons have been learned and that no future outbreaks are able to happen.

News of his legal bid for answers came as one new suspected case of the disease was reported, taking the total to 89.

Mr Holeran, from Saughton Mains, Edinburgh, wants to know why the bacteria was able to infect the south-west of his home city and is seeking assurance from authorities that will not happen again. The 55-year-old became ill on 5 June when he started suffering from aches and pains, tiredness and breathlessness, and went to Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital for treatment.

Doctors sent him home five days later with antibiotics because they feared his weakened immune system would make him likely to contract a virus at the hospital.

He said: “It has been one of the worst weeks of my life. I’m just so angry about the whole thing and want to know what went wrong to cause the outbreak.

“I’ve been stuck in a hospital bed and then housebound, and I want to know why, as well as how, it could have been avoided and what is going to be done to stop this from ever happening again.

“Too many people have been affected by this and it is time that we all got some answers.”

Mr Holeran yesterday instructed specialist illness lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to find out how the outbreak occurred and what can be done to prevent it from recurring.

He lives close to the North British Distillery on Edinburgh’s Wheatfield Road, which has been served with an improvement notice by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for allegedly failing to control the risk of legionella bacteria in a cooling tower.

Another company located on the same road, Mcfarlan Smith, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, has also been served notices in relation to its management of bacteria control.

Four other companies in the city are being investigated as the possible source of the disease which has claimed the life of Robert Air, 56, of Edinburgh.

Elaine Russell, a partner at the firm’s Glasgow office and who specialises in illness claims, said: “Our client’s experience highlights the huge impact that this terrible outbreak is having on so many people across Edinburgh and the continuing need for authorities to quickly and thoroughly investigate every possible source.

“We are determined, for the sake of our clients and all of those affected by these problems, to discover what went wrong.

“We will seek assurances from the authorities to ensure that there will be improvements in controlling the risk of illness to prevent something of this scale from being repeated in the future.”

“While the fundamental concern of authorities remains identifying the source of this outbreak as the number of confirmed or suspected cases rises, attention quickly needs to turn to providing reassurances over how such outbreaks can be avoided.

“Investigations have already revealed concerns about specific sites so it is vital lessons are learned from the outbreak to ensure that overall safety is comprehensively improved.”

Latest figures show the number of confirmed cases of the disease remain at 41 and suspected cases are now up to 48 – a total of 89 patients.

Eleven patients are still in intensive care being treated for the disease following the outbreak in Edinburgh.

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: “This development is in line with expectations. This minor change in the total number of cases doesn’t alter the view that the worst of this outbreak is over.”