Flesh bug kills man days after he cut leg

A MAN died from a flesh-eating disease after cutting his leg while moving house.

David Hemmings passed away in hospital within days after his cut became infected with necrotising fasciitis.

The 54-year-old, of Motherwell, Lanarkshire, had been looking forward to moving into the new house with his wife Margaret – but three days after settling in he was taken to hospital in extreme pain. He was admitted last Friday to Wishaw General Hospital, where doctors found a cut on his leg had become infected.

Mrs Hemmings and sons James, 20, and Lee, 16, were informed the next day that his condition had deteriorated and he would not survive. Mr Hemmings died in hospital at 8.05pm on Saturday, September 17, surrounded by his family. His cause of death was listed as necrotising fasciitis, known as the ‘flesh-eating disease’, which can enter the body through a cut or wound. Mr Hemmings, who had previously had problems with fluid in his legs, also had an underlying cardiovascular disease.

Mrs Hemmings, 52, said that while moving house, her husband ‘knocked his legs a few times and cut one while carrying the boxes from the house to the car’. She said: ‘It is all still such a shock. He only got three days in our new house. We will all really miss him.’