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THE FAMILY OF a teenager who died after waiting for treatment in a hospital for 12 hours has criticised the HSE for not consulting them on the parameters of the inquiry into her death.
Aoife Johnston, 16, died on 19 December 2022 after waiting 12 hours in University Hospital Limerick’s emergency department for treatment for sepsis.
Her family has said that her condition deteriorated to such a degree during that time that other patients began advocating for her to be seen.
A solicitor for the family Damien Tansey said that they are “haunted” by their memories of being in hospital waiting for Aoife to receive treatment.
“You cannot imagine the difficulties they are confronted on a daily basis, and it was particularly acute and difficult for them just coming up to Christmas,” Tansey said.
“They were in the hospital for the entire of the 12 hours when they were pleading with the medical staff to assist their daughter, other patients in the casualty department that night were advocating as well for Aoife,” he said.
“They saw that she was in serious danger and they too pleaded with the medical staff to attend to Aoife,” he added.
“They are living with that experience on a daily basis and it’s haunting them.”
The HSE has announced that an independent inquiry would be carried out into Johnston’s death, led by retired chief justice Frank Clarke.
On Tuesday, the HSE published its terms of reference for the investigation.
HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster said the judge-led inquiry would provide “an evidence-based report” on the circumstances surrounding Johnston’s death as well as the clinical and corporate governance of University Hospital Limerick.
A systems analysis review (SAR) report found that overcrowding in UHL’s emergency department is “endemic”, and that doctor and nurse staffing levels are “insufficient”.
Tansey said that the family were informed of the terms of reference the evening before they were published, and “without any consultation with the family, without any warning that they were about to be published”.
“There was absolutely no discussion or consultation with us, the legal representatives, or the Johnson family with a view to the makeup of those terms of reference,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
“Basic courtesy dictates, for example, that the family first should have been told in advance that the terms of reference were about to be published, and it was entirely inappropriate that they should learn about this effectively from the media.
“The media announced the fact that the terms of reference had already been determined before, by email, we got the terms of reference.
“Clearly, after due consideration and consultation with the family, we expect that we will seek to add to, or perhaps alter, some of the terms of reference.”
Tansey said that the report from the review committee was delivered to the family a day before the anniversary of Aoife Johnston’s death.
He also said that there appeared to be at least one interim report that the family had not received.
“The main issue they are now concerned about is the fact that they learned everything from the media… that’s not appropriate given the nature of this tragedy. It’s an unspeakable tragedy,” Tansey said.
“The Johnson family, for example, got the report produced by the review committee a day before the anniversary of this tragedy, and they were dealing with that, and were challenged in the manner in which they were dealing with that and they then get the report.”
The HSE said in a statement that it is “very conscious of the significant upset and distress for Aoife’s family”.
“The CEO has previously communicated an open-ended invitation to meet with them about any and all issues associated with Aoife’s care and the systems analysis report which was provided to them in December.
“This invitation remains.”
Tansey said that the Johnston family and their legal representatives are “ready, willing and able” to attend a meeting with the HSE, and said “we will attend as soon as a concrete invitation emerges”.
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Another cover up incoming, either that or it’ll be dragged on so long there will never be a conclusion. Remember all the investigations into Fine gael donor Denis o Brien and Actavo/siteserv and the dealings and debt write offs he received from certain banks? Still ongoing about 5 years later!!
Evidence based? The poor girl was let down by incompetent staff. End of.
@Brian O’Connor:
I don’t think that it was the nursing staff who were to blame to be fair, didn’t one nurse repeatedly try to get her seen by a doctor?
@Costigan Family: i was myself waiting on several occasions in ED 16+ hours…. I am yet to see one busy nurse….try retail or hospitality…. Its the management thats fails miserably… Poor girl…. May she rest in heaven…
@Costigan Family: it is not the overworked doctors’ fault that the HSE is chronically underfunded. There are one thousand vacant consultant posts because of the crap conditions offered by the HSE.
We seem very likely to have a general election this year
I will vote for the party that pledges to fight the monster that is our state bureaucracy
From the department of “social protection” to the HSE these unfeeling blobs make life a misery for huge numbers of people most of whom are on low/modest incomes and in difficult circumstances
If the word “republic” is to have any meaning then the state should be on the side of citizens. Instead it seems to be constantly stonewalling or fighting its citizens in long expensive court cases.
Time for real meaningful change
@Gerry Kelly: We accept that the state is not competent enough to provide food for example (collectized farms never worked) or consumer good etc why oh why then do we think that public sector beauacrats can run a health care system. Long lines, scarcity, misallocation of resources, no accountability, service users being seen as a burden, or a nuisances-all of these things are a result of state beauacracy. The state can fund healthcare, ideally through social insurance, but I shouldn’t actually run the system. Healthcare can be delivered to a high quality without long waits e.g germany, Switzerland etc.
The people in the Midwest were promised a centre of excellence by the HSE when the a&e was closed in Ennis and Nenagh. Brendan Drumm, Mary Harney and every Minister and HSE CEO since have let the people down. Hang your heads in shame.
.. they just don’t care, not the first time or last time.. will happen again..
Do you want the truth or an enquiry?
Civil Servants do not appoint people to find truth.
I’m afraid to think what I would do if this was one of my family members.
@Paul Kavanagh: Could not agree more Paul. I cannot as a parent imagine begging, pleading for help for my child as she lay dying before my eyes.
If the ministry for health, the ceo of the hse and the ceo of the hospital involved had the slightest most minute shred of dignity they should have resigned the minute this appalling tragedy happened.
Like you said I would seriously consider taking matters into my own hands if this happened to my child.
The stardust case had a tribunal of inquiry in 1981 that was a cover up. In 2009 the government published a redacted re-edited report from Mr Paul Coffey however in 2017 after the retired Judge McCartan review he stated looking at the evidence both the Keane review and Coffey review were wrong.
I not surprised about the terms of reference because government refuses to own their fatal failures and deny natural truths and justice. Her family should walk away.
@Liam Foy: It was found in the enquiry that the two top doctors on the ward that night were more interested in broken bones and minor injuries than treating the most seriously ill, I do think that says it all! They should be demoted or struck off.
“There are insufficient doctors to care for the numbers and acuity of patients presenting in the timescale expected by the triage system, the hospital and the community”, the report stated. Blame management and the Minister for Health, not the overworked, burnt out, doctors.
I must say from my inter action with Medical Staff in a major Dublin hospital, the care has been fantastic.
have your say