Aoife Johnston's death at Limerick hospital 'entirely avoidable'

THE Irish Association for Emergency Medicine (IAEM) said Aoife Johnston’s death was “almost certainly avoidable”

Aoife died from Meningitis B after presenting at the emergency department (ED) at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) with query sepsis.

The teenager waited 15 hours and 15 minutes for what could have been life saving antibiotics, if given earlier.

A verdict of medical misadventure was delivered at the inquest into her death, which heard the evidence of more than 20 people over the course of four days in Kilmallock.

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In a statement, the IAEM said the delays in Aoife getting “essential care should never have happened.”

Describing a “grossly overcrowded and under resourced ED”, the statement said their group wasn’t surprised by the evidence at the inquest into the death of the 16-year-old.

“The only surprise has been how few of the many avoidable deaths have come before the coroner’s court, given the clear evidence of increased mortality and morbidity associated with both ED overcrowding and prolonged waits for admission to a hospital bed for the approximately 25% of ED patients deemed to require hospital admission after assessment and emergency treatment in the ED,” the statement read.

The statement refers to Dr Leandri Card and clinical nurse manager Katherine Skelly, who both told the inquest they left University Hospital Limerick after Aoife’s death.

“The moral injury sustained by staff who are placed in an invidious position in attempting to care for patients in an impossible environment is deeply corrosive and the departure of experienced and enthusiastic clinical staff from the ED inevitably makes the situation even worse.”

The group said acute bed capacity is “grossly inadequate.”

The IAEM have recommended that those admitted in the ED are not all in the one place and instead shared across the hospital wards and regional health area.

They have said that “concrete action” is needed to put weight behind the apologies of the HSE, Bernard Gloster and the Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, TD, and that hospital bed capacity must be increased. They said that management and politicians can no longer “hide behind the defence of ignorance of the catastrophes that unfold due to overcrowding.”