THE solicitor representing the family of a man whose life support machine was accidentally switched off has said it is the worst negligence case he has ever seen.

Seamus Edney, who also represented Filipino husband Arnel Cabrera after his wife Mayra died after giving birth at GWH, is now involved in the case of tetraplegic Jamie Merrett, 37, who suffered brain damage after an agency nurse working for the NHS was filmed switching off his life support machine by accident.

Mr Edney of SJ Edney, based in Alexander House in Fleming Way, Swindon, said no-one has accepted any of the blame for the incident in January last year.

The family of Mr Merrett, who lives in Devizes, were so worried about the care he had been receiving at his home that they alerted Wiltshire NHS and had a camera set up in his bedroom, which captured the incident last year.

An investigation also found the company that employed the nurse did not have adequate systems in place to check the training staff had received.

Only days after the camera was installed, Mr Merrett was left close to death after nurse Violetta Aylward, from Reading, was filmed accidentally turning off the life-support machine and struggling to resuscitate him.

Mr Merrett was aware of the mistake that had been made before he lost consciousness, unable to speak. He can be heard on the film urgently clicking his tongue as a warning. Nurse Aylward tried to resuscitate him but it took 21 minutes for the machine to be restarted by paramedics, leaving Mr Merrett with serious brain damage.

Mr Edney, who is working on behalf of the family, said: “In my experience, this is the worst case of negligence on the part of a nurse.

“No-one has come forward to make any admission, so now almost two years after the event we are trying to get someone to admit liability for what has happened.”

Mr Merrett had been nursed at home since 2002 after a road accident left him paralysed from the neck down.

Amb- ition 24hours, which supplied nurse Aylward, who also have an office on Fleming Way, said it could not comment as an internal investigation was being held.

The BBC said a confidential report by Wiltshire social services, leaked to them, concluded the agency was aware it was required to supply a nurse with training in the use of a ventilator, but the company did not have adequate systems in place to check what training their staff had received.

His sister Karren Reynolds said his level of understanding has now dropped to that of a young child.

She said: “He has an existence but it’s nowhere near what it was before. He is very brain-damaged compared to what he was before. He was a highly intelligent man and you could have long in-depth conversations with him and now it tends to be more simplistic.”

In a statement the NHS Wiltshire Primary Care Trust said: “The PCT has investigated the incident in January 2009 when the patient's ventilator care was compromised.

“We have apologised to the patient and his family for this, and have put in place a series of actions to ensure that such an event will not occur again either for this patient or others.”

A spokeswoman for the Nursing and Midwifery Council confirmed Ms Aylward has been suspended while it investigates the incident.