The family of a 54-year-old mother of three who presented at a hospital twice with intense leg pain and later died from a blood clot has settled their High Court action for €325,000.
Doireann O’Mahony BL told the High Court on Tuesday that Bridie Kelly’s family are very aggrieved at the way she was “neglected and deprived of simple life saving treatment” in the form of anticoagulation.
Counsel said it was a very tragic case arising from the death of Mrs Kelly at Letterkenny University Hospital in April 2018.
Their case was there had been an alleged avoidable and inexcusable delay in the diagnosis and treatment of Mrs Kelly’s deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
The HSE has admitted a breach of duty in the case but disputed causation.
The hospital later apologised for the deficits in clinical care and the events that occurred in the lead up to Mrs Kelly’s death. A serious incident review was also carried out into her death.
John Kelly, Drumbeigh, Mountcharles, Co Donegal, had sued the HSE over the death of his wife Bridie two years ago.
Mrs Kelly first went to the emergency department of Letterkenny University Hospital on February 27th, 2018 because of swelling and intense pain in the calf of her left leg.
It was claimed she should have been sent for an ultrasound scan of her leg veins as her D dimer levels, it was claimed, were grossly elevated and strongly suggestive of the presence of a blood clot in the veins.
Instead she was advised her symptoms were due to muscle pain and she was discharged home.
It was claimed had the appropriate imaging been undertaken the deep vein thrombosis would have been discovered and a full dose of anticoagulant treatment would have been started and the blood clot would have resolved without complication over period of between three to six months.
Mrs Kelly went back to the hospital on April 22nd, 2018 with more pain and swelling in her left leg. Her D dimer level, it was claimed, was nearly ten times the upper limit of normal and could only have been caused by deep vein thrombosis. It was claimed the ultrasound was not carried out until two days later on April 24th, 2018 . DVT was diagnosed and Mrs Kelly was given a prescription.
The prescription, it was claimed, was written in an allegedly substandard way leading to an error in the dose of drug given . Only a tiny fraction of the intended doses was given meaning that for two days Mrs Kelly was untreated. The correct prescription was written a day later but Mrs Kelly died on April 30th 2018 after suffering a massive pulmonary embolism.
There was, it was claimed, a failure to exercise reasonable and ordinary care and skill in and about the management, care and treatment of Mrs Kelly and that she had been discharged with an alleged likely DVT.
It was further claimed that her anti-coagulant drug prescription had been written in an allegedly substandard way leading to an error in the dose given meaning Mrs Kelly remained untreated between April 24th - 26th 2018.
Approving the settlement Mr Justice Kevin Cross said it was a sad death and nothing anyone can do can bring Mrs Kelly back but it was a good settlement.
He sympathised with the family on “this sad loss.”
Outside court the family solicitor Ciaran Tansey said the Kellys have had a very difficult two and a half years . He said a HSE report in to the incident had made a number of recommendations “so this does not happen again” and the Kelly family he said are determined the HSE will implement “to the fullest extent all of those recommendations and hopefully this will be the last day we will be outside the Four Courts”.