Coronavirus: Families blame NHS for hospital-acquired virus deaths By Colin Campbell Published image copyrightFamily handout image captionDavid Laws family say he was left on a trolley overnight, and held in a Covid bay on a dirty bed Three families whose loved ones died after contracting Covid-19 in hospital say mistakes were made by NHS trusts. It follows a BBC investigation which found that one third of patients who died with Covid-19 at a Brighton hospital are likely to have contracted it on the wards. David Laws, David Smith and Debbie Burford all died of coronavirus. Carol Bursey, Mr Laws wife, said staff let him down massively , despite the extreme conditions they were in.