Hospital failure: Frances could have been saved

A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl who died after being misdiagnosed by two inexperienced junior doctors as having a tummy bug might have been saved if senior staff had been consulted.

The North Eastern Health Board yesterday admitted a “failure to adequately assess and manage” patient Frances Sheridan from New Line, Cootehill, Co Cavan, who died on last February 1, 36 hours after she was discharged from Cavan General Hospital.

Her parents, Brian and Rosemary, said last night they were greatly distressed by the board’s findings and found it “devastating” that their daughter’s death may have been avoided if she had been properly treated.

The board is not taking disciplinary action against any members of staff arising out of the incident. Board chief executive Paul Robinson said yesterday: “I have no intentions of trying to engage in a witch hunt.”

Both doctors who examined Frances are still employed at the hospital but will leave as scheduled when their six-month rotation ends this month. A separate garda investigation is still under way.

Frances, one of six children and a fourth-class pupil at St Michael’s in Cootehill, died of an obstructed bowel due to complications arising from surgery to remove her appendix three weeks earlier at Cavan General.

Yet a report issued by the board yesterday found that when medical staff saw her after she returned to the hospital complaining of stomach pains and vomiting on January 30 they did not contact her surgical team or any senior doctors, and dismissed her GP’s opinion that she might have a serious condition and should be kept in overnight.

Both doctors failed to spot an indicator in X-rays that might otherwise have alerted them. The health board conceded the doctors should have sought the opinion of a senior colleague and admitted Frances for observation but also found evidence of strained relations between junior and senior staff.

Mr Robinson said it was impossible to tell if the involvement of senior staff would have saved Frances but admitted: “Her chances of survival would have improved enormously.”

Health Minister Micheál Martin has referred the report to his chief medical officer, Dr Jim Kiely, for his opinion, and would be meeting the North Eastern Health Board next week to discuss its findings.