A public inquiry into the sudden deaths of three children after routine treatment in Northern Ireland hospitals is expected to be extended to include a fourth death.
The news was given today at the opening of a preliminary two-day hearing into the deaths of the children by inquiry chairman John O'Hara QC in Belfast.
Mr O'Hara was appointed by the Northern Ireland Health Minister Ms Angela Smith to investigate the deaths of Raychel Ferguson (9), Adam Strain (4), and 17-month-old Lucy Crawford.
Raychel died in June 2001 at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast where she had been transferred on being taken ill after what should have been a routine appendix operation at the Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
Adam died after a kidney transplant in the Royal Belfast Hospital (RBH) for Sick Children in November 1995. Lucy was pronounced dead at the RBH after being transferred from the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, where she had been treated in April 2000.
All died from a shortage of sodium in the body - a condition known as hyponatraemia. It is alleged all three developed the condition after either had been given the wrong fluid or fluids at too high a dosage. It is further alleged the death of Lucy was covered up.
In his opening address Mr O'Hara revealed that "regrettably" it looked as if a further death in October 1996 would be added to his inquiry.
PA