Disappointment at how report deals with death

FAMILY REACTION:THE FAMILY of the late Edel Kelly (26) expressed their strong disappointment with the findings of the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) report.

The Kilrush mother of two young boys died of cancer last June after being earlier given the all-clear at Ennis General.

In Ennis yesterday, solicitor for the Kelly family Eugene O’Kelly said: “The Kellys are particularly disappointed with the report, because they had been given to understand by the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, that it would be an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of their daughter, Edel. It is no such thing.” Mr O’Kelly confirmed that he would be shortly instituting High Court proceedings on the HSE in relation to Ms Kelly’s misdiagnosis.

He added: “The Kellys wonder why they were involved at all in relation to this report because an outsider reading this report would not realise that it had anything to do with the death of Edel Kelly . . . Neither an investigation is outlined in her particular case and nor is she mentioned.”

Mr O’Kelly said the Kelly family has not learned anything from the report on the failures that resulted in Ms Kelly being misdiagnosed.

“It is unsatisfactory both from the Kellys’ point of view and it is unsatisfactory from Co Clare’s point of view . . . This is a sad day for Co Clare and a very sad day for Ennis General Hospital.”

Mr O’Kelly pointed out that “what is particularly damaging in the report [is that], because nobody is being identified as being at fault, the suspicion of incompetence lies heavily on everyone who works in the hospital and that is grossly unfair on diligent doctors and staff”.

Mr O’Kelly said that the Kellys “don’t want any further inquiries. They had great expectations of this one. Nobody is named in the report, indeed the report specifically states that they cannot identify anybody in particular.

“The Kellys had understood that there would be an analysis of the failures and maybe there was behind the scenes, but it certainly wasn’t reported on,” Mr O’Kelly said.

Piaras Mac Éinrí, a brother in law of Anne Moriarty, said his brother Karl Henry (Ann’s husband) had been worried that if there was no inquiry other patients might be put at risk.

“We talk about bad banks. This was a bad hospital that was dysfunctional at every level,” he said.

But he said the report left many questions unanswered. He said three internal inquiries in Ann’s case identified specific issues and mistakes which were not followed up in the Hiqa report.

“We do believe that certain people have a case to answer ... it’s not a question of being vindictive but these malfunctions in the system did not arise for no reason at all,” he added.

The Labour party spokeswoman on Health, Ms Jan O’Sullivan TD, said: “One of the most disappointing things is that the report makes no findings in regard to the standard of care received by Ann Moriarity and Edel Kelly whose cases prompted this inquiry. The families of the two women are no nearer to knowing how their breast cancer was missed. Again families have been left in the dark, questions remain unanswered and nobody has been found to be responsible for premature deaths of two patients.”