Courts

Family of mother who died after ‘scan delay’ settles High Court case for €660,000

‘I hope no other family has to go through what we’ve had to go through,’ says husband of Susan Doherty (45) who died at Limerick hospital in 2020

Roland Doherty (third from left) who settled action against the HSE over the death of his wife Susan along with his brother-in-law Robert Moloney and extended family. Photograph: Collins Courts

Fri Jun 23 2023 - 17:33

The family of a young mother who went to University Hospital Limerick with abdominal pain but who did not get a CT scan in time, and later died, has settled a High Court action over her death for €660,000.

Susan Doherty (45) who had persistent abdominal pain was at one stage taken for the CT scan but was returned to the ward without it having been carried out due to a difficulty with intravenous access, Mr Justice Paul Coffey was told.

The Doherty family’s counsel Bruce Antoniotti SC, instructed by solicitor Rachael Liston, told the court that when Ms Doherty did get the scan at 5am on July 4th, 2020, it showed “her spleen had completely shattered” and there was blood in the abdominal cavity.

Emergency surgery was carried out and Ms Doherty from Kiltannan Croagh, Co Limerick had transfusions of nine units of blood and eight units of plasma, but she died at 12.20pm on July 4th.

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Counsel said experts on their side would say if a CT scan was done earlier, surgery would have been carried out in good time to save Ms Doherty. Counsel said their experts would also say a treatment dose of the blood thinner Heparin was contraindicated and led to shock and haemhorrage.

The HSE, counsel said, accepted that between July 2nd and July 4th the care of Ms Doherty was below the standard of care and a breach of duty was admitted.

Counsel said Charlotte Rose Doherty who was just short of her third birthday when her mother died is now cared for by her father, Roland, who he said devotes all his time to her as well as running a family business.

Roland Doherty had sued the HSE over the death of his wife. A separate nervous shock action taken by Mr Doherty was also settled.

In a statement outside court, Mr Doherty said he hoped lessons had been learned from the tragic case.

“I hope all the recommendations after the internal review after Susan’s death have been implemented so what had happened to us does not happen to any other family,” he said.

“I hope no other family has to go through what we’ve had to go through for the last three years.”

An inquest into the death of Ms Doherty recorded a verdict of medical misadventure.

Coroner John McNamara also recommended that the HSE and the UL Hospitals Group consider increased use of hand-held scanning devices.

Mr McNamara said it appeared that without a CT scan, doctors were “fighting with one hand tied behind their backs”.

He said an autopsy concluded that the cause of death was due to “shock intra-abdominal haemorrhage, due to splenic rupture”.

At the inquest, a letter from the UL Hospitals Group was read out which expressed “deepest sympathies to Susan’s family” and unreservedly apologised to Ms Doherty’s family for the sorrow and distress caused over her untimely death.

In the High Court proceedings, it was claimed among other things that there was a failure to ensure a CT scan was undertaken on July 2nd 2020 which would have led to surgery being performed on that date.

Approving the settlement Mr Justice Coffey said it was a very tragic case and he said the offer was fair and reasonable. He also conveyed his sympathy to Mr Doherty and his daughter and all the extended family.

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