THE FAMILY of a woman who died after giving birth to twins at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda has expressed concern that a senior HSE official caused revisions to be made to what they believed was to be an independent report into her death.
Letters released under the Freedom of Information Act to local radio station LMFM indicate that the hospital network manager for the northeast, Stephen Mulvany, met those compiling the report into the death of Tania McCabe (34).
He highlighted “some areas for the review group to consider in terms of the format and text of the report” when it was drafted which “led to revisions to the document”.
Mr Mulvany reveals this in a letter to the head of the HSE’s national hospital office in March 2008, shortly before the report into Ms McCabe’s death and that of one of her twins was published.
He also said he had some issues with the final report in which he perceived a “possible overemphasis on systemic and resource issues” and “a possible under-emphasis on individual aspects of care management”.
The report ultimately found doctors at the hospital did not diagnose that her waters had broken when she presented a few days before giving birth in March 2007. It also said short-staffing compromised the care she received.
Michael Boylan, solicitor for the McCabe family, said yesterday the content of the letter was “a significant cause of concern” to the family. They were also concerned, he said, that other correspondence indicated that the State Claims Agency was offering legal advice on nurses’ statements before they were given to the coroner holding the inquest into her death.
A letter from the State Claims Agency to the director of nursing in Drogheda in August 2007 stated that nurses, in their statements, should not comment on the treatment provided by other nurses or include opinions.
Mr Boylan said this was clearly an attempt to coach the nursing staff on how to prepare their statements for the inquest. This was the clearest possible case yet that the State Claims Agency was “fiddling about and trying to prevent the full truth coming out”.
Sinn Féin TD for Louth Arthur Morgan called on Mr Mulvany to resign. “The integrity of the report is now seriously challenged. The actions of the network manager displays a wholly blinkered view of his responsibilities, demonstrating a narrow vision allegiance to the HSE rather than to the provision of proper care for patients in the northeast.”
Fine Gael TD for Louth Fergus O’Dowd said he would put down a Dáil question on the report.
In a statement, the Health Service Executive said Mr Mulvany had always accepted in full the findings and recommendations of the report.
It said that while the review was being carried out, he had a duty, as network manager and commissioner of the report, to seek to understand the key issues and ask questions of the independent review group, but ultimately it was its report. It also stressed that significant progress was being made to fully implement the report’s recommendations.