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The family of a 55-year-old Donegal woman who died after what was described as a “catalog of errors” in her care has urged the Health Service Executive to implement the recommendations of a review of serious incidents in her care.
The court heard that Bridie Kelly of Drumbeigh, Mountcharles, had attended Letterkenny University Hospital twice in 2018, but died after failing to properly diagnose and treat a blood clot.
It emerged that, at the time of her death, Ms Kelly was undergoing an unnecessary CT scan of her brain, which was intended for another patient of the same name.
The High Court approved a settlement of the case against the HSE for € 325,000.
The Superior Court heard that he had presented to the emergency department on February 27, 2018 with severe pain and swelling in his leg.
She was discharged despite the fact that a test known as the D-dimer test, which is used to diagnose clots, showed that she was two and a half times above normal levels. An ultrasound scan or anticoagulants could not be performed.
He returned to the hospital on April 22, where the same blood clot test showed that he was ten times the upper limit of normal. The court heard that this could only have been caused by a deep vein thrombosis that would have responded to treatment.
Two days later she was finally diagnosed by an ultrasound but there was an error in the dose of the drugs administered and they only gave her a fraction of what was required.
His attorneys told the Superior Court that he did not actually receive treatment for 48 hours.
On April 30, Ms. Kelly suffered a massive clot in her lung and died.
Attorney Doireann O’Mahony told the Superior Court that her family was deeply aggrieved by the way she was “neglected and deprived of life-saving treatment.”
A review of serious incidents in 2019 by the Saolta University health care group concluded that there were gaps in Ms. Kelly’s care, including consideration of possible diagnoses and failure to conduct ultrasound tests.
It was also learned that Ms Kelly had died while having a CT scan of her brain, which had been ordered and performed three days earlier for another patient of the same name.
The hospital apologized for the deficiencies in clinical care and the events that occurred prior to Ms. Kelly’s death.
Following today’s settlement, the family’s attorney, Ciaran Tansey, said the family had to witness a catalog of mistakes when their beloved Bridie was being treated for a completely treatable condition.
He said that Ms. Kelly’s condition was perfectly treatable with a readily available blood thinner.
He said the family was determined that the HSE fully implement all recommendations stemming from the review of the serious incident.
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