Latex allergy nurse gets £260,000 compensation

An RAF dental nurse whose career was ruined by a potentially fatal allergy to latex gloves has been awarded £260,000 compensation.

Lisa Furphy, 35, had to be invalided out of the RAF in 2004 because of her allergy to powdered latex gloves. It developed after years of exposure to the gloves while assisting dentists.

Ms Furphy, of Halton, Aylesbury, sued the Ministry of Defence. They agreed to settle her case for £260,000 at London's High Court on Tuesday. The allergy can cause breathing problems and anaphylaxic shock which can be life-threatening.

Ms Furphy, who attained the rank of sergeant after joining the RAF in 1987, will have to cope with the condition and carefully avoid latex exposure for the rest of her life. Although her condition was not formally diagnosed until April 2003, her lawyers claimed medical warnings had been given years earlier but not enough was done to ensure that she was not exposed to powdered latex gloves in the workplace. After years of experiencing breathing problems and other symptoms, the crisis came when she suffered an anaphylaxic attack while working at RAF Holton in 2003.

Outside court after the settlement, Ms Furphy's solicitor Daniel Easton said she was "very pleased" with the outcome. He said: "I think people underestimate the impact on people's lives of a diagnosis of latex allergy because it is not an apparent injury. It has a very large impact on someone's life, even though the immediate effects aren't obviously apparent."

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