A Garda investigation is under way into the circumstances surrounding the death last month of a nine-year-old girl three weeks after she underwent an appendix operation at Cavan General Hospital. Report by Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, in Cavan.
The existence of the Garda inquiry emerged yesterday at the opening of the inquest into the child's death.
It also emerged at the inquest into the death of Frances Sheridan, from New Line, Cootehill, that she had died from complications of recent surgery.
This was one of the main conclusions of a post-mortem examination carried out on the girl's body by the State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy.
Dr Cassidy's findings were read into the public record by Cavan coroner Mr Paul Kelly. He said he was opening the inquest and making the post-mortem findings public because one of the functions of an inquest was to allay rumour and suspicion.
There had been a lot of publicity surrounding Frances Sheridan's death and it was important that the facts be put on record to put an end to speculation.
He said he wanted to make copies of Dr Cassidy's report available to the Sheridan family, the North Eastern Health Board (which runs Cavan hospital) and other interested parties.
Detailing the complications which arose after surgery, he said Dr Cassidy had found the child's bowel became obstructed after it became trapped in adhesions which developed at the site of the healing wound. The formation of adhesions, according to Dr Cassidy's report, was part of the normal healing process and not "an indication of poor or negligent surgery".
The fact that the bowel became trapped would, Dr Cassidy noted, have caused abdominal pain, vomiting and constipation. While symptoms may at first be sporadic, when the abdominal pain becomes constant this indicates a segment of bowel is trapped. "At this stage, signs and symptoms of obstruction will be present," she wrote in her report.
She added that once the bowel is obstructed, a person may be at risk of inhaling vomit, particularly when lying down.
Frances Sheridan, she found, had died as a result of inhaling vomit, which was a consequence of her bowel being obstructed. This, in turn, was as a result of adhesions which developed after her appendix operation.
The operation would not have been expected to cause residual problems and "certainly would not have been expected to lead to the child's death". The complications which followed her surgery could have been rectified by further surgery, she added.
Frances Sheridan died on Sunday, February 1st. She had been recuperating at home from her appendix operation when, on the Friday prior to her death, she experienced abdominal pain and was taken back to Cavan General Hospital by her parents.
After she was examined, her family were told their child probably had only a tummy bug and they were asked to take her home again. Two days later, Frances awoke again with severe abdominal pain and was vomiting blood. An ambulance was called but she died before it had arrived at her home.
Garda Frank Lynch gave evidence at yesterday's inquest of being on mobile patrol on the morning of February 1st when he and a colleague received a radio report at 8.10 a.m. of the sudden death of a nine-year-old girl at Cavan hospital A&E unit.
They went to the hospital, arriving at 8.20 a.m. After making inquiries, he learned that she had been brought to A&E by ambulance and had arrived at 7.25 a.m.
He spoke to a doctor on duty, Dr Ann Leahy, who told him that the girl was dead on arrival in hospital.
The garda said the child's father, Mr Brian Sheridan, identified for him the body of his daughter at 8.50 a.m. and the following morning he escorted the body to Dublin city morgue, arriving there at 9.20 a.m. for a post-mortem examination.
No other evidence was heard yesterday and the inquest has been adjourned until May 10th.
Garda Supt Joe Sullivan applied for the adjournment. He said the Garda was investigating the case and it would be a number of weeks before its inquiries would be completed.
"When the investigation is complete, I will be forwarding a file to the DPP," he said. "There may be criminal matters arising. I'm not saying there will be or there won't be," he added.
Mr Kelly extended his sympathy to the Sheridan family, including the child's parents, who were present. He said he knew the past number of weeks had been a huge ordeal for them.
"Not alone have you to cope with the grief of the sudden death of a child but you also have to do so in public and in the full glare of the media. You seem to have shown great strength and resilience in dealing with this and my hope for you is that you can continue to do so in the weeks and months ahead," he told them.
He added that, as a parent himself, he knew the death of a child was every parent's nightmare. Frances would have been 10 years old on March 16th, he said.
Supt Sullivan also extended sympathy to the Sheridan family, as did Mr Jimmy Walsh, solicitor for the North Eastern Health Board and Cavan General Hospital, who described the Sheridan family's loss as tragic.
Ms Patricia O'Reilly, solicitor for the Sheridan family, made a brief statement afterwards. She said: "The Sheridan family are devastated by the death of their daughter Frances. Today is just the first step in the process of establishing exactly what led to Frances' death.
"We await the results of the review group which has been established by the North Eastern Health Board. The family will not be making any further comment until the entire inquest has been heard.
"They are extremely private people and we would ask members of the media to respect their privacy at this difficult time".