Aoife Johnston's parents speak out: 'I don't see happy days coming'

Aoife Johnston, 16, died on December 19, 2022, after suffering from meningitis-related sepsis and was left for more than 16 hours without antibiotics

The late Aoife Johnston, (16), Shannon, Co Clare, who died after waiting 12 hours on chair to see a doctor at an overcrowded and understaffed University Hospital Limerick, in December 2022. File picture: David Raleigh

The parents of Aoife Johnston have said that "a part of us died" after she passed away at University Hospital Limerick (UHL.)

Ms Johnston, 16, from Co Clare, died on December 19, 2022, after suffering from meningitis-related sepsis and was left for more than 16 hours without antibiotics.

A  report published in September found that her death was “almost certainly avoidable.”

Former Chief Justice Frank Clarke wrote in it that UHL was "grossly overcrowded" and there was a "lack of clarity" on sepsis protocols on the night Aoife died.

Her parents Carol and James Johnston have said that their lives have "totally changed for the worst."

Speaking to Prime Time's Miriam O'Callaghan, her mother Carol said: "A part of us, we definitely died with Aoife. Our life has totally changed for the worst, definitely. 

I can't see, I don't see happy days coming. I can't see them. We try our best. 

"It's lonely. It's different. It's quiet.” 

Carol explained how it was "hard to accept" the report as the "answer" to why Aoife died.

Her father James added: “There's not a day that goes by that I don't blame myself for not doing more later on during the night, and just... I just didn't think she was going to die. Like, I really. I just. If I had. If I had known, I would have torn the place apart, but I just didn't. Just didn't think like, that she was going to die on us. I really didn't.”