Family wins compensation and apology from hospital

A Cork family was today awarded €76,000 compensation and a full apology from a hospital where their 21-year-old son was treated after being misdiagnosed.

A Cork family was today awarded €76,000 compensation and a full apology from a hospital where their 21-year-old son died after being misdiagnosed.

Kevin Murphy, from Montenotte, Cork, died in September 1999 after suffering a heart attack as a result of severe hypercalcaemia.

At the time of his death, the level of calcium in his blood was described as “inconsistent with life” by one medical expert.

An autopsy revealed a small tumour in his neck which, if found earlier, could have saved his life.

Kevin was initially treated for back pain in 1997 but the severity of his condition was not noted and passed on to his GP.

His family claimed the Mercy Hospital “showed a lack of appreciation in the seriousness of Kevin’s rapidly deteriorating condition” from the moment he was first admitted.

They said a misdiagnosis and the failure to initiate further blood tests eventually cost him his life.

Kevin’s GP, Dr Fergus O’Connell, failed to include vital blood test results in his letter of referral which were instead added on later on a post-it note.

The note was not acknowledged by the Mercy Hospital until some six weeks after Kevin’s death.

Kevin’s two GPs, Dr Norman Murphy and Dr O’Connell, today admitted liability and offered a full apology to his family, expressing their regret for the way in which Kevin’s case was dealt with.

The €76,000 settlement awarded by the court will be divided equally between two charities: Bothar and the Make A Wish Foundation.

Outside the High Court, Kevin’s mother Margaret said she felt let down and angry that they had been forced into the court process.

“All we wanted was answers,” she said.

Standing with her husband Barry and their other two children Dorothy, aged 27 and Brian, aged 30, she added that they hoped some good would now come out of the case.

“We hope lessons can be learned about the documentation of records and the transfer of information from A to B,” she said.

“We have achieved a huge amount in a David and Goliath situation and are relieved it’s now over, despite taking over four years from the moment we first began legal proceedings.”