Ready, Steady, Cook star Ross Burden died after being poisoned by an infected water supply in his Auckland hospital, it has been claimed.
While the chef had been undergoing treatment for leukaemia, it’s believed he was responding well and his death aged just 45 was in fact caused by Legionnaires Disease.
According to the New Zealand Sunday Star Times, Burden’s birth mother Jude Harwood told the newspaper that he has been diagnosed with pneumonia and was using a nebuliser to help him breathe.
However, the nebuliser was being filled with tap water rather than sterile water and she maintains that this is how he contracted the condition.
She has now made a formal complaint, alleging that medically-trained visitors were alarmed to discover staff using tap water and recommended Burden complain to management.
“Sadly, he died before he could complain – he said they had used tap water all night,” she wrote.
“It’s a sick hospital to have Legionnaires. Where was the maintenance man going around checking the water system? Why weren’t they checking the pipes? He was so vulnerable [from the cancer treatment] he didn’t have a white cell in his body. I just don’t want someone else to lose their son and die of Legionnaires disease when they could have come home.”
The hospital has said that “we regret that this patient contracted this infection while in our care and have extended an invitation to meet with them to discuss this”, while Burden’s adoptive mother has said she does not want an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his illness.
“It shouldn’t have happened, but from what they’ve written and told me it’s all been checked out and re-done, as far as I’m concerned they’ve fixed it and they’ll check to make sure it’s kept fixed,” she said.
“It won’t bring him back.”
