Mother wants apology for death

THE mother of an eight-year-old special needs boy who died in a buggy provided by his health board says she has yet to receive an apology from the authority.

Kathleen Walsh’s son Graham, who suffered from cerebral palsy, slipped and choked to death in the buggy days after his birthday.

The Walsh family were awarded €25,000 in compensation in a civil case at Kilkenny Circuit Court last week. However, the South Eastern Health Board (SEHB) has not accepted any liability for the tragedy.

The accident happened in the back garden of his family home in Tullogher, Co Kilkenny in July 2001, days after he received the custom-made buggy.

The mother of 14 now wants children given similar push chairs to be reassessed to avoid a repeat of the tragedy.

The half-twin struggled with ill-health throughout his short life. “The system failed and because it failed, my son is dead. We are owed an apology. Is it that the South Eastern Health Board does not think we are owed an apology,” a distraught Mrs Walsh said from her Kilkenny home.

“We were supplied with this buggy. We had to fight for everything. For three years I was on and on to the health board for a suitable push chair.

“Graham could not walk. He needed this buggy for family days out etc. From 1998 to 2001, I fought for this push chair. It was delivered to his school in Waterford. I wasn’t allowed take it home until he was fitted in it, to ensure it was safe.

“There were no instructions with it. The third time he sat in the buggy was when he died in it. He had only sat in it previously for a field day and for his communion. We had the buggy for about four weeks before he died. We put him out for air on that sunny day in July 2001 when he died,” Mrs Walsh said.

She described how her 13-year-old daughter discovered the dead child.

“He was in the garden and my brother-in-law and daughter were out playing with him. My daughter just went in to heat up some milk for him. He slipped in the buggy because it didn’t have a centre strap which would go between his legs.

“The harness on it was like a waistcoat and had a zip on it. The zip got caught in his throat and he strangled. It all happened within minutes. I was here in his house and it was his 13-year-old sister who found him. I took him out and tried to revive him. But I knew he was gone.”

An inquest into Graham’s death in November 2001 found the buggy was not suitable for him, because it had no central strap. “There are other buggies out there and I appealed to other mothers who had similar straps in them to get them checked out.”

“The money does not matter. All I wanted was an apology and that children in any other buggies would be reassessed,” Mrs Walsh said.

“I go down to his grave and say to Graham that I am going to make them apologise for taking you from us.”

An SEHB spokesperson said yesterday the case has been settled without an admission of liability and the board had no further comment to make.