No health service accountability for preventable deaths, says campaigner

Cóilín Ó Scolaí and Irene Kavanagh outside the High Court on Tuesday. Picture: Collins Court

A campaigner says there is still no accountability in the health service more than 11 years after her son died.

Roisin Molloy also says there is no sign of any accountability coming “anytime soon” for predictable and preventable deaths and injuries.

She says the recent case of a premature baby who died after a procedure at the Coombe Hospital shows there has been little or no real change in practice since her son died on January 24, 2012.

Nobody has been disciplined for failings that led to his death at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

As well as fighting for answers as to why their son died, the couple has been campaigning for greater HSE staff accountability.

They even accepted invitations to take on roles on health service bodies in an effort to change the system “from within” but they have since left.

On Tuesday, Cóilín Ó Scolaí and his wife Irene Kavanagh said the way their family was treated and the betrayal they say they experienced after their baby daughter died at The Coombe was "extraordinarily shocking".

Earlier, their lawyers had argued in court that they were “lied to from the moment Laoise died and continued to be lied to for many years” after she died.

Laoise Kavanagh Ní Scolaí was a twin who was only 42 hours and 27 minutes old when she died after her heart was penetrated with plastic tubing while an attempt was being made to insert a chest drain eight years ago.

Her parents settled a High Court action over her death on Tuesday, with the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Dublin admitting liability in the case.

Cóilín, Laoise's father, said the family fought for eight years to get to the bottom of what happened to their daughter.

Ms Molloy, in reaction to this latest tragic case, told the Irish Examiner: “My heart goes out to Baby Laoise’s family.

“Sadly, I am not surprised at what they were forced to endure."

She claimed "countless" other families have been through similar issues.

“The HSE has become very good at acknowledging what it should be doing but is little different in how it behaves.

“While the HSE always has most or all of the answers families of those who die want, the bereaved families always have to go through a constant stream of barriers to get those answers.

“Added to that, the open disclosure policy that was drawn up after Mark's death, and the new way they were supposed to investigate incidents, are, in my view, ineffectual and cannot be enforced as there is no legislation underpinning them.” 

'Committed to open disclosure'

A HSE spokesperson said: “The HSE is committed to open disclosure and staff are expected to follow our policy and are required to complete training in open disclosure.

“The open disclosure policy launched in 2019 has been updated again in 2022 and will be published following further alignment with the National Open Disclosure Policy Framework and Patient Safety Bill when published.

“The policy applies to patient safety incidents and reflects the primacy of the right of patients to have full knowledge about any failings in care.”