The parents of Shannon teenager, Aoife Johnston, who died in University Hospital Limerick in December of 2022, will speak out publicly for the first time on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme this evening, October 3.
Aoife’s parents, Carol and James, will speak about the night she presented at UHL with suspected sepsis and waited nearly 14 hours for treatment at the Emergency Department.
A recently published report into the incident has confirmed that her death was “almost certainly avoidable.”
“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,” said James Johnston.
The official report into Aoife’s death highlights significant delays in care at University Hospital Limerick, where Aoife waited nearly 14 hours in the Emergency Department before receiving any form of treatment for suspected sepsis.
Aoife’s parents tell presenter Miriam O’Callaghan about the family’s ongoing grief and the impact their daughter’s death has had on the family and the wider community.
“When Aoife died, 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. We try and just take each day, Miriam, as it comes, but it’s very sad. It’s lonely. It’s different. It’s quiet,” said Carol Johnston.
“I know from the report and from any other investigations, a lot of it goes back to overcrowding. I suppose as Aoife’s parents, it’s very hard to accept that as the answer, that’s why Aoife died for overcrowding.”
The interview will be broadcast on Prime Time tonight October 3, at 9.35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
Andrew Hamilton is a journalist, investigative reporter and podcaster who has been working in the media in Ireland for the past 20 years. His areas of special interest include the environment, mental health and politics.