Girl, 15, died after bleeding during surgery

THE parents of a 15-year-old girl who died after brain surgery said the laughter had gone from their lives following the death of their “bubbly”, life-loving daughter.

Meghan Fleming of Rathuard, Ballysheehy, Limerick, was 19 days short of her 16th birthday when she died at Beaumont Hospital on August 28 last year — a day after surgery during which a “catastrophic” bleed occurred.

Coroner Dr Brian Farrell recorded a verdict of death by medical misadventure at the Dublin Coroner’s Court yesterday.

“This is a tragic result of a procedure,” he said.

If Meghan was alive today, she would be 17 tomorrow, Thomas Wallace-O’Donnell BL, counsel for the Fleming family, told the inquest.

“She was referred for an MRI and just two months later her family lost her.”

Parents Patricia and Brendan Fleming, speaking after the conclusion of the inquest, described Meghan as a “very happy-go-lucky, laid back, bubbly” girl who loved music, books and dancing and who would not let anything hold her back.

They said her death had left a huge hole in their lives.

“The laughter is gone,” her mother said.

“There is emptiness and silence in the house,” Mr Fleming said, adding that they had received their daughter’s Junior Certificate results last year, on what would have been her 16th birthday, and that she got nine honours.

The inquest heard that Meghan had balance problems and co-ordination difficulties and that her parents had been trying to get her diagnosed.

The teenager had an MRI scan at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in June 2010, which revealed a marked hydrocephalus (a build-up of fluid inside the skull).

She was transferred to Beaumont Hospital on July 13 for neurosurgery and had another MRI scan, which showed the possibility of an underlying cyst.

“When we looked at the MRI, we thought, she needs treatment. We made the decision this child needs definitive treatment,” said consultant neurosurgeon Dr Muhammad Taufiq-A-Satter.

Meghan underwent surgery on July 21, and this confirmed a large cyst in her brain that was causing chronic hydrocephalus.

The aim of the procedure was to bring the pressure in the cyst under control, but the surgery was abandoned after minor bleeding occurred and a drain was left in place.

After the first surgery, she was placed on antibiotics to treat meningitis.

Counsel said the family did not know anything about the meningitis until the inquest, and said that Mr Fleming was anxious to state that if they had known, they may not have consented to the second operation.

By August 27, Meghan was considered fit and stable enough to undergo a second procedure to treat the hydrocephalus.

Surgeon Mr John Caird initially planned to remove the cyst, but it was too big.

He was dissecting the floor of the cyst when an “instantaneous and catastrophic” bleed occurred.

The teenager’s condition deteriorated dramatically and she was taken to ICU.

She was pronounced dead the following day.

The coroner commended the family’s courage and public-spiritedness in consenting to organ harvesting, from which four patients had benefited.