A Shannon family whose 16 year-old daughter died in an overcrowded Emergency Department at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) are demanding the immediate publication of a major report into her death.
Aoife Johnston, Cronan Lawn, Shannon, died of meningitis in December 2022 after suspected sepsis that allegedly went untreated for more than 12 hours.
Two months after the completion of an investigation into her death, conducted by former Chief Justice Frank Clarke, the Johnston family have expressed deep disappointment at the report they have been given, accusing the HSE of failing them and their late daughter again.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, the family’s solicitor, Damien Tansey, said the Johnstons consider the Clarke report as “utterly superficial”.
Mr Tansey said that from the outset of the unpublished report, “it appears that the investigator, the former Chief Justice Clarke had a meeting with a senior counsel appointed by Mr [Bernard] Gloster” the HSE Chief Executive, indicating that there were “significant limitations and restrictions” on Mr Clarke’s mandate.
He claimed these included “an inability for Mr Clarke to make findings of fact”, or to make “adverse findings”.
“As the Johnston family see it, the State has failed them under two headings namely the “monumental failings” in the manner in which their daughter was looked after at University Hospital Limerick, and under the heading of the Clarke investigation as they expected it would have been able to make adverse findings and to have resolved conflict where it arose in the accounts they have been given regarding their daughter’s case.”
Requesting an immediate publication of the Clarke report without redactions, Mr Tansey said the Johnston family has written to the HSE Chief Executive to issue an ultimatum that the family will make their copy of the report public if the HSE does not.
Mr Tansey said Taoiseach Simon Harris and Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly have also been copied on their correspondence with the HSE, as both the minister and the Taoiseach had met with Aoife’s parents and expressed an interest in her tragic case which is still “very much in the minds of the public”.
The Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association and the Mid-West Hospital Campaign has also called for publication of the Clarke report without redactions.
Asked if full publication of the Clarke report now might compromise or prejudice disciplinary proceedings at the UL Hospitals’ Group, Mr Tansey said “if disciplinary proceedings are set in train against specific individuals in relation to their role in this tragedy”, he has “no doubt that due process and fair procedures will be followed” in the conduct of those proceedings.
Mr Tansey said he cannot understand the hesitancy of the HSE to publish this report or why Mr Clarke “was precluded” from making adverse findings, quoting the terms of reference of his inquiry which state the “report of the Independent Investigator may be used to support, and relied upon in, further processes, a complaint, an investigation under a HR procedure, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim”.
The University of Limerick Hospital Group and the HSE have previously apologised publicly to the Johnston family, with Mr Gloster expressing “heartfelt sympathy to Aoife’s family and friends for the pain and suffering” they experienced because of Aoife’s “unnecessary death while in our care”.
Regarding the Johnston family’s calls through their solicitor for immediate publication of the Clarke report, the HSE has said it has communicated with Mr Tansey on a number of occasions, and Mr Gloster has extended an invitation to meet Mr Tansey and the family following the conclusion of the Clarke investigation, and to discuss the issue of publication of the report.
Mr Gloster said this week the Clarke report would be published next week and has stated previously he is not the only one who believes the report should be published in an appropriate form.
“There has been no finding against any individual at this point in time, and it is very important that everybody’s rights are respected in that context. The appropriate response to the issue and question of accountability will be addressed, ” he said recently.
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.