Hospital apologises for standard of care given to man who died

St Luke’s hospital Kilkenny has apologised in the High Court for the standard of care provided to a 70-year-old man which it said “sadly contributed to his death.”

Grandfather-of-eight Edward Hennessy died of coronary heart disease in February 2017.

He had been to the hospital on several occasions after collapsing in his home and garden, said Jeremy Maher SC, for the deceased’s family, on Tuesday.

Counsel said appropriate investigations should have taken place. He said that would have led to heart bypass surgery and “Mr Hennessy’s life would have been saved”.

In a letter of apology to the family, read to the court , general manager of St Luke’s hospital Anne Slattery said she “sincerely apologises for the standard of care provided to the late Mr Hennessy at St Luke’s which sadly contributed to his death on February 13th, 2017”.

The hospital wished to apologise to the family “for the pain and distress suffered due to the loss of Mr Hennessy”.

The apology was read as the family settled their High Court action; details of the settlement are confidential.

Mr Hennessy’s daughters Edel Roche and Ann Marie Ryan, of Callan, Co Kilkenny, had brought the action on behalf of Mr Hennessy’s widow Nancy and family against the Health Service Executive.

Mr Hennessy had gone to St Luke’s on November 27th, 2016, after collapsing in the garden. Various investigations were carried out including a chest X-ray and a brain CT scan. He had a further episode on Christmas Day 2016 and was readmitted to the hospital. Further investigations were carried out including an echocardiogram and the results, it was claimed, were thought to be unremarkable. Mr Hennessy’s s collapse was thought to be linked to fainting and he was discharged.

Mr Hennessy collapsed on January 30th, 2017, after having chest pain for 10 days and was readmitted to the hospital. Following investigations a branch block was discovered and he was referred for a pacemaker, which he received in February 2017.

Postmortem results

He was discharged from hospital on February 3rd, 2017, but 10 days later collapsed at his kitchen table. He was transferred to hospital but was pronounced dead at 11:00pm. A postmortem confirmed the cause death as coronary heart disease.

It was claimed there was failure to appreciate the significance of the fact Mr Hennessy’s third admission to St Luke’s was preceded by a history of chest pain and of a finding in the echocardiogram that he developed left bundle branch block.

It is further claimed there was failure to take appropriate steps to investigate the possibility Mr Hennessy may have been suffering from heart disease prior to getting the pacemaker. It was also alleged there was a failure to perform an angiogram to investigate the branch block.

Liability was admitted in the case.

Approving the settlement, Mr Justice Kevin Cross offered his sympathy to the family and hoped they would derive comfort from the apology and the case having been dealt with expeditiously.