Inquest hears Aoife’s family ‘begged’ Johnston for help from UHL

THE parents of Aoife Johnston, who died at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after waiting for 12 hours in a chair while dying of sepsis, today (Monday) told her they watched her die despite “begging” staff to staff.

James and Carol Johnston gave harrowing evidence of the final moments of their 16-year-old daughter’s life at Limerick District Court on December 19, 2022.

James Johnston cried and held his face in his hands as he told the inquest that, despite his pleas for help for his daughter, UHL staff “continued to give Aoife paracetamol and put ice packs on her legs” and that “she just didn’t really help, there was no help”.

Mr Johnston said Aoife woke up at their home on Saturday, December 17, 2022, in “good shape” but around midday she became “unwell” and “took some paracetamol and returned to bed”.

At around 3.30pm Aoife vomited and Mr Johnston made an appointment for her at the local Shannodoc GP surgery at 4.50pm.

Mr Johnston said that after examining the teenager, the doctor on duty, Dr Madlala Mdumiseni, told them he was “concerned” about her and advised them to go straight to UHL.

Dr. Mdumiseni told the inquest he concluded Aoife was suffering from an “acute infection of sepsis with symptoms worsening”.

He said Aoife “looked clinically unwell”, her heart rate was rapid, her blood pressure was low, she was dehydrated, weak and light-headed.

Dr. Mdumiseni said he gave Mr Johnston the referral letter and instructed him to present it to UHL to ensure Aoife was seen “as soon as possible”.

Mr and Mrs Johnston said they immediately took their daughter to UHL and arrived at the hospital at 5.40pm. However, the inquest heard it took more than 12 hours for Aoife to be seen by a doctor.

Carol Johnston said that on the way to UHL she opened the referral letter “which stated that Aoife had a temperature of 39.5 and the doctor thought she may have had viral blood poisoning and dehydration”.

When the family arrived at UHL, they handed in the referral letter and were told to take a seat in the reception area.

Aoife was not seen by a triage nurse – the first point of contact with medical staff – until 7.15pm, an hour and 35 minutes after presentation at hospital.

James Johnston said Aoife ‘vomited twice while waiting’ for the triage nurse.

The nurse, he said, “spent about five minutes with Aoife” before taking her in a wheelchair to the emergency department (ED), which was heard to be overcrowded with trolleys.

“There was no trolley available so we tried to make a bed for Aoife with two chairs,” Johnston said.

Aoife’s condition worsened, but she did not receive adequate care “until it was too late,” said Damien Tansey, senior counsel and attorney for the Johnston family.

Overnight, Aoife’s skin developed spots and discoloration around her left eye.

“Aoife violently vomited pure green liquid. I constantly begged for help. The response was a brown cup into which Aoife vomited, and on one occasion a reprimand: “I know full well she is ill, but I have 70 other patients to look after,” Mr Johnston said.

“I was up and down with the nurses all night, begging them to help my daughter. Aoife screamed in agony from the pain in her right leg and head.

Mr Johnston said his daughter’s screams were so loud “I heard people outside on the carts asking the nurses and doctors to help Aoife, and at one point a man said: ‘Won’t someone go to that girl ?’”.

Carol Johnston said that when her daughter was taken to A&E, she “noticed a large number of trolleys and I said to the nurse, ‘Look, she’s really sick, you’re not going to leave us here, are you?’ She’s really unwell’”.

She said Aoife was moved from zone A in the emergency department to what “appeared to be a storage area as there was personal protective equipment all over the room”.

Aoife’s parents said that at one point in the night staff took Aoife for an X-ray, but that “when Aoife returned she was very upset and said the staff were ‘really mean’ to her”.

“She told us they were handing her out because she couldn’t get up, but at that point Aoife was physically unable to get up.”

Mr Tansey said his clients were adamant that Aoife was taken for the X-ray, but he said UHL had “no record” of the attempted scanning.

Aoife was first seen by a doctor at 6am the following morning, December 18, and was advised that she would be treated as if she had meningitis.

By this stage Aoife was “in agony”, her father said.

“After the doctor left, Aoife started to deteriorate even further. “I went to the nurses’ station and there were about 12 nurses standing there and I yelled at them to help my bloody daughter,” Mr Johnston said.

“At that point my daughter could no longer communicate. Aoife was being resuscitated, her limbs moving involuntarily. I was asked to hold my daughter’s legs so that they (the doctors) could administer the treatment.”

Doctors placed Aoife in an induced coma to reduce the swelling of her brain, but she was pronounced dead at 3.30pm on December 19.

Mr Tansey said the charge nurse responsible for Aoife’s care was currently in Australia. She had prepared a statement for the inquest, but she was not available to attend the hearing in person or via a Zoom call.

He said all parties were informed of the inquest date “months” in advance and that it was “unthinkable” that in a modern world with technology there was no witness available to give evidence or answer questions during a zoom call.

Mr Tansey said an external interim report, completed under Aoife’s care, had been given to the HSE and UL Hospitals Group, but the Johnston family were again “concerned” that they had still not seen the report and had to rely on media reports to hear it. Content.

He said the Johnston family were grateful for the meetings they had with HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.

Conor Halpin, senior counsel, acting on behalf of the HSE, read out two letters of apology on behalf of Mr Golster and Colette Cowan, chief executive of UL Hospitals Group, for admitted “deficiencies” in Aoife’s care that led to the “catastrophic” outcome . of her death.

The Johnston family also acknowledged that the nature of Aoife’s death had had a personal impact on Mr Gloster. Mr Tansey said: “He (Mr Gloster) was clearly emotionally moved by the nature of their tragic loss.”

Mr Tansey said the Johnston family were concerned. Ms Cowan, who is said to have clear knowledge of the workings of the emergency department, was not a witness at the inquest.

Coroner John McNamara said Ms Cowan had not been asked to make a statement and statements from UHL staff directly involved in Aoife’s care would be heard.

Carol Johnston concluded her statement, telling the court: “I have continuously begged for help. We saw our daughter die, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

“God help her, we told her she was in the best place, but that turned out not to be the case.”

The inquest will last four consecutive days.