Tag Archives: Aoife Johnston

The parents of Aoife Johnston, who died in a “death trap” emergency department at University Hospital Limerick, following “systemic failures” in her care, said today their daughter died a “horrible death”, writes David Raleigh. Carol and James Johnston said they wanted their daughter not to be remembered “as the girl who died on a hospital trolley”, but as “a happy, easy-going, happy-go-lucky girl, who went to school and did summer jobs”. “Our lovely 16-year-old girl and our baby was loved very, very much by us and her sisters,” they said. Following four days of harrowing evidence at Aoife’s inquest, the Limerick Coroner, John McNamara returned a verdict of medical misadventure in her death from meningitis after she contracted sepsis. It was, Mr McNamara agreed, “the only verdict” open to him after it had been proposed by Damien Tansey, senior counsel and solicitor for the Johnston family, and not opposed by barristers representing the HSE/ULHospitals Group and management at the hospital. …

An Assistant Director of Nursing at University Hospital Limerick, giving evidence on Tuesday at the inquest into Aoife Johnston’s death, agreed that the environment inside UHL’s overcrowded emergency department was “dangerous” for patients as Ms Johnston waited more than 12 hours for life-saving antibiotics, which it was heard were not administered in time. Aoife, 16, from Shannon, died at UHL on December 19 2022, following a series of delays in her treatment, the inquest which is being held at Limerick Coroners Court, Kilmallock, heard. Aoife presented at UHL on December 17, along with with a GP referral letter that queried “sepsis”, a life-threatening blood infection, which required “urgent” attention. UHL’s sepsis protocols, requiring patients to be seen by a doctor within 15 minutes, were not followed. Aoife was not triaged until 1 hour 15 minutes after first presenting. When she eventually made it to the emergency department she had to wait more than 12 hours to be examined by a …

A doctor who treated 16-year-old Aoife Johnston prior to her death at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) wept in the witness box at the teenager’s inquest and told Limerick Coroner, John McNamara, that the emergency department at UHL was “not a safe environment” for patients, writes David Raleigh. Dr Leandri Card told how she was trying to manage 191 ED patients on her own, and that she and ED nurses were “overwhelmed” on the night Aoife presented at the hospital. The South African native, who was working as a Senior House Officer (SHO) in UHL’s Emergency Department, said “every inch of the floor space” was taken up by patients on trolleys when Aoife presented on December 17, 2022. “It was like a war-zone. It was an impossible situation,” she said. Dr Card told the inquest, which is being held at Limerick Coroner’s Court in Kilmallock, that due to over-crowding and pressure on staff she and other doctors routinely prescribed medication for …

THE parents of Aoife Johnston who died at University Hospital Limerick (UHL), after waiting 12 hours on a chair while dying of sepsis, told her inquest today they watched her die despite “begging” staff to help, reports David Raleigh. James and Carol Johnston gave emotional and harrowing evidence at Limerick Coroner’s Court of the final moments of their 16-year-old daughter’s death, on December 19, 2022. James Johnston wept and held his face in his hands as he told the inquest that, despite his pleadings for assistance for his daughter, UHL staff “kept given Aoife paracetamol, and putting ice packs on her legs” but that “they just weren’t really helping, there was no help”. Mr Johnston said Aoife had awoken at their home on Saturday, December 17, in “great form” but she became “unwell” around midday, and “took some paracetamol and returned to bed”. Around 3.30pm Aoife vomited and Mr Johnston made an appointment at locum GP service Shannodoc for 4.50pm …

THOUSANDS of hospital protesters bowed their heads in silence in a show of support for the family of a Shannon teenager who died in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) before Christmas. You could hear a pin drop when Melanie Sheehan requested a minute silence to mark the tragic death of Aoife Johnston during protest speeches at Arthur’s Quay car park on Saturday. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar recently requested a new inquiry into Aoife’s hospital treatment after she contracted meningitis to ascertain if her untimely death could have been prevented. Her death sent shock waves throughout the Mid-West. Hospital activists are hoping her untimely passing will prove a watershed moment in their campaign to tackle overcrowding in the region. UHL has promised a “comprehensive investigation” into the circumstances which led up to Aoife’s death. Young family members and friends of Aoife held up framed photographs of her as they listened to speeches calling for the restoration of 24-hour Accident and Emergency services in …