quote:

Originally posted by dance girl:
I think US members will be wondering what all the fuss is about, Bedstor.
In the world's most litigious society, the equivalent of £5 million is small change.

quote:

Leslie needs a fat reality cheque
20/01/2008
Three years ago Leslie Ash claims she and her husband, ex-footballer Lee Chapman, were involved in a sex session so "energetic" it broke two of her ribs and punctured a lung. Call me an old prude, but that's one hell of a marital romp.

Leslie and Lee are renowned for their... how shall we say... extremely physical relationship. Whatever it was they were getting up to that night, something went very wrong and Leslie ended up in the A&E department of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

It was while she was being treated for her injuries that Leslie contracted the MRSA bug which left her close to death and partially paralysed for months.

It was reported that Leslie then hired a top lawyer to launch a million-pound lawsuit against the hospital. This week Leslie didn't just settle for a million-pound payout. She settled for five times that amount.

There is no denying that Leslie Ash has suffered greatly, but let's put this obscenely large payout into context.

The £5million cheque winging it's way to Leslie's luxurious townhouse in Chelsea is larger than all the combined MRSA damages handed out by the NHS over the past four years.

It has been coughed up at a time when the NHS is in financial meltdown, when wards are being closed and staff underpaid and overworked.

Leslie's fat cheque is also being written out at a time when soldiers who lost limbs and suffered devastating head wounds in Iraq are still fighting over pathetic awards from the MoD.

Take Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, 23, who sustained 37 injuries in a landmine blast. Ben lost both his legs and damage to his brain and spine was so severe he'll be disabled for life. But how much was he awarded by the MoD?

The princely sum of £152,150. Ben's mother, who has considered selling the family home to pay for his treatment, is now fighting for the maximum award available to injured soldiers - a pathetic £285,000.

I can only imagine how news of Leslie's payout was greeted by the exhausted Mrs Parkinson.

But I digress. This is all about Leslie Ash. Or, as her solicitor Janice Gardner said after the £5million award was announced: "This is a substantial sum which reflects what Leslie has lost in her life due to contracting this infection.

"She was a very commercially bankable actress with an enormously successful career in television, but she has done very little since. Obviously she has been cut down in her prime."

Leslie Ash was indeed a very bankable actress... about 10 years ago. But by her mid-40s she was facing up to the reality of all fading blonde actresses - there are hundreds of younger, prettier girls out there landing the part of walk-on babe.

Of course, Leslie's disastrous "trout pout" didn't help much, nor did her husband's arrest on suspicion of assault. But of course Chapman wasn't charged after Leslie claimed her injuries were due to that famous sex session.

Not surprisingly, Leslie says she is "delighted" with this week's award. She says she launched the compensation claim, not because of the cash, but so she could hold the NHS accountable. How noble.

If she didn't do it for the moola, then we can safely assume she'll be donating her payout to charity.

Can I suggest it goes to those brave soldiers who are still waiting for theirs?

quote:

Leslie' £5M is fair for all
LESLIE Ash has had a raw deal. Having contracted superbug MSSA in hospital she went from being a healthy actress to a woman who, four years after suffering the virus, still walks with a stick.
However, while £5m compensation is fantastic for her, it's a monumental kick in the guts to every family who has lost a loved one to this insidious superbug.

It also demonstrates the gutlessness of the NHS Litigation Trust who spit on ordinary people with MSSA or MRSA yet throw this obscene amount of money at a "celebrity".

We're told Leslie, right, received her lottery-sized payout because, says solicitor Janice Gardner, "she was a commercially bankable actress with an enormously successful career in television." I question Ms Gardner's idea of "enormously successful". I'd say Caroline Quentin is enormously successful, as is Amanda Redman

AGREE? DISAGREE? HAVE YOUR SAY HERE

Leslie Ash was only getting supporting roles in series like Where The Heart Is and ITV's Merseybeat—not the kind of work to earn five million quid.

I'd also suggest Ms Ash's career was on a downturn because of (self-inflicted) cosmetic procedures which had brought about public ridicule and earned her the name Trout Pout. However, none of that accounts for the carelessness of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, which nearly killed her.

But while Ms Ash will recover from her ordeal in the lap of luxury, thousands of other victims must, because they have no public profile, make do with whatever paltry handout the Litigation Authority sees fit.

And they're making clear there's unlikely ever to be a payout of this size again as Ms Ash was a special case because of her job. I'm sorry, Leslie is NOT a special case. Her suffering is no greater than that of thousands of ordinary people who contract this virus for the simple reason our hospital wards are filthy and this government refuses to stump up the cash to keep them clean.

I don't begrudge Leslie her payout. However, it's wrong she's got it when others—just as deserving —haven't.

The Litigation Trust settled because they knew the media would be all over any court case brought by Ms Ash, as opposed to Joe Public who rarely causes a fuss —usually because he's dead. They also knew their incompetency would, day after day, be splattered across front pages and the NHS would come out of it badly.

Celebrity or not, it is this government's moral duty to ensure that every person who contracts MRSA or C-Diff is assessed—and compensated—in exactly the same way Leslie Ash was!