Hospital death – Imperative that trust is restored

Trust in medical professionals should be at the core of our health service, but in the tragic case of nine-year-old Frances Sheridan it was misplaced.

A matter-of-fact report blamed “system inadequacies” in Cavan General Hospital for the little girl’s death, but a prime factor was a misdiagnosis by two inexperienced junior doctors.

This was a critical factor, but there were others peculiar to the hospital which coincided to cause Frances’ untimely death. According to the report by the North Eastern Health Board, no disciplinary action will be taken against any member of staff arising from Frances’ death.

This is an extraordinary outcome, because Frances died not from an unfortunate accident or the result of an operation, but because of shortcomings that existed in the hospital.

These included strained relations between junior and senior staff which deterred the former from consulting with their experienced colleagues. There was also a failure of systems, structures, resources, management and personnel.

What is glaringly obvious from the report into the youngster’s death is that there are very serious issues to be addressed at Cavan General Hospital, some of which have been festering for a long time.

Responsibility for allowing those conditions to develop and continue must lie somewhere because it is inconceivable they happened spontaneously.

While a garda investigation is still being conducted into Frances’ death, Health Minister Micheál Martin has ordered an examination of the health board report.

This must be done urgently, to prevent any other families experiencing the heartbreak the Sheridan family is enduring. They issued a statement through their solicitor which, among other things, expressed the hope that the report’s recommendations would be put in place to spare any other families a similar fate.

The memory of nine-year-old Frances Sheridan demands that at the very least.