Family feel let down by system after 92-year-old woman dies of Covid at Cork hospital
When Ms Arundel rallied by February 8, consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Colm Taylor, said in a report to the coroner that Ms Arundel was considered fit for transfer to the South Infirmary/Victoria Hospital for physio and rehab. Photo: Dan Linehan
The daughter of a 92-year-old woman who died after getting Covid-19 in hospital during the second wave of the pandemic says she feels let down by the system.
Agnes Arundel’s daughter, Mary Holland, told Cork City Coroner’s Court she and her family were upset that their mother was transferred on a freezing cold night in January 2021 from Cork University Hospital (CUH), just a few days after testing positive for Covid, to the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital (SIVUH).
Ms Holland also told coroner Philip Comyn that a doctor in SIVUH told her that her mother had arrived from CUH in “poor condition”. She said she and her family were upset by a number of aspects of the care afforded to their mother, and that it had been compounded by visitor restrictions that prevented them from seeing her.
The inquest into Ms Arundel’s death heard that she was living independently, with family support, at Ballycurreen on the Kinsale Road in Cork when she fell at home on the night of January 4, 2021, and called for help using a personal alarm.
Family members found her conscious but upset on the floor near her bed. She had suffered a fractured left femur. She was taken by ambulance to CUH where, the following day, she underwent surgery to repair the fracture.
The inquest was told that she tested negative for Covid-19 on admission, and tested negative repeatedly during her post-operative recovery period on January 7, 9, 11, 18, 20 and 26, during which time her mobility improved.
By January 27, her discharge home was being planned but there was a Covid outbreak on her ward, 2B, and she was deemed to be a close contact of a patient with the virus.
Nurse Kavitha Baskaran said Ms Arundel was moved to a designated room for close contacts in a Covid ward, 2A, where on January 29, she tested positive for Covid-19. Ms Holland told the coroner that she spoke to her mother by phone the next day.
“Her voice was weak and she said she was afraid she wouldn’t survive,” she said.
But Ms Arundel rallied and by February 8, consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Colm Taylor, said in a report to the coroner that Ms Arundel was considered fit for transfer to SIVUH for physio and rehab.
Ms Holland finally got a physical visit with her mother in SIVUH on February 9 and had to wear full PPP. She told the inquest that she noted an infection in her mother's mouth, associated with her dentures, and did her best to address it.
But tragically, Ms Arundel’s condition deteriorated and she died in the hospital two days later.Â
The family’s solicitor, David Williams, told the coroner that it was CUH policy at the time to avoid transfers of Covid patients unless they required medical care.
“The family understood she was being moved for rehab. Is that medical care? This was an acute patient who died soon after the transfer,” he said.
But solicitor for the HSE, Eamon Harrington, said rehab is medical care and the transfer was appropriate.
Mr Comyn also pointed out that CUH deals with acute patients, and that during the second wave of the pandemic in January 2021, there would have been huge pressure on CUH and its staff to make beds available.
Dr Margaret Bolster said Ms Arundel died from Covid-19 pneumonia, but she said femur fractures in elderly patients are also a significant injury, with a 20% mortality rate within a year of the injury.
Mr Comyn said while the terminal event was Covid-19, the precipitating factor was the fall, and he recorded a verdict of accidental death. He also suggested that management of the two hospitals would meet Ms Arundel’s family so that they could air their concerns.
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