‘We will never forget Aoife’ – Johnston family calls for action to improve healthcare in the Mid West

*Meagan, Carol, James and Kate Johnston surrounded by family and friends.

The family of AOIFE JOHNSTON have spoken of the “devastating” loss they have experienced since her death.

Members of the Johnston family wept outside Kilmallock courthouse following an emotional four-day inquest by Limerick Coroner John McNamara into the circumstances surrounding the Shannon teenager’s death.

A verdict of death by medical misadventure was returned by McNamara. Aoife had waited more than fifteen hours for the antibiotics that would have saved her life. She died on December 19, 2022.

The Johnstons expressed their shock at the description of the University Hospital Limerick (UHL) emergency department as a “death trap” by emergency consultant Dr James Gray on the weekend Aoife sought life-saving treatment.

“It’s terrifying (to hear that). I would be terrified myself,” said Aoife’s mother Carol. ‘We took Aoife to a place where we told her she would be taken care of, but that didn’t happen. We told her she was in the best place. We told her she needed to get some rest and that the doctors would be there soon. But the doctors never came.”

Meagan Johnston, Aoife’s eldest sister, said her absence from their lives was “devastating”.
She said: ‘I’ll never forget Aoife – she was just the best sister ever. It hurts me all the time that I never got to say goodbye to her. When I got back (to UHL) Aoife was already gone – I’ll never forget that drive to intensive care,” she said.

“I immediately had my friend take me there to see my sister. I never got to say goodbye to my sister. I’m never going to say goodbye to her – she was gone. I never saw my sister complete her Leaving Cert, I never saw her graduate, I never saw my sister move onto the next chapter with her boyfriend. He is left heartbroken,” Meagan outlines.

Meagan said when she was told Aoife was in hospital, she thought she would be fine. “But then the next morning… to get the call that she was in intensive care. I didn’t know what to do?” she said. ‘That’s my little sister and we’ll never see her again. I am so grateful (for) this beautiful girl. She was such a beautiful girl inside and out. She was a wonderful person and I will cherish my memories of her forever. I’m so sorry Aoife for what happened to you. But my mother and father did everything they could for her.”

Kate Johnston said she wanted everyone to know who her younger sister Aoife was. “She was such a kind and gentle person,” she said through tears outside the courtroom.

Both James and Carol called for action to tackle the overcrowding crisis at UHL, warning that they do not want other families to have to endure the nightmare they have suffered. “Aoife is currently remembered as the girl who died on a trolley,” Carol said. “That’s what Aoife is known for. Over time, when James and I can talk to people well, they will get to know the real Aoife and the sweet 16-year-old girl she was. She was our baby that we loved very much. Her sisters loved her very much. She was a happy, easy-going girl – cheerful, went to school, got summer jobs and she was never a problem for me or her father – she was a good child.

‘As James would say: a cool kid. Aoife came with us on holiday every year. She said ‘no, no’ because she was too cool, but she loved every minute of it. From our experience, this should not happen to another child. Aoife is gone now, so all the excuses and everything they put in place is… for the rest of our lives, that won’t change. It breaks hearts – it was a terrible death. She suffered all night,” she added.

On December 17, 2022, Aoife was placed in a wheelchair by the emergency department and placed in what her family described as a storage room. There were no trolleys available, so James and Carol pushed two chairs together to offer her a fold-away bed.

Aoife was in so much pain that even other patients on trolleys begged doctors and nurses to help the teenager. Despite having a letter from his GP advising him of suspected sepsis, Aoife had not been assessed by a doctor for more than 12 hours.

Carol said she welcomed the coroner’s verdict and his recommendations on UHL. “We are happy with the verdict and the apology, but that will not change anything. Aoife is gone now. That’s what we have to live with. I don’t know what else to say.”

James said they went to UHL desperately looking for help for Aoife but did not receive it in time.

Her parents stayed with her in the UHL and begged in vain for Aoife to be seen before she was. “We went to the hospital to get help, but we didn’t get it. Is that it, really? It’s clear what happened,” James said.

Carol said she hoped the promised investments and improvements at UHL would be delivered as quickly as possible. “I hope there are improvements. That’s all I can say about it,” she said.

James emphasized that people in the Midwest needed action now, not words, on improvements in health care. ‘Let’s hope it’s not just talk. They have to deal with it and solve it. No more people should die in that hospital. They have to solve it 100 percent,” he said.