THE FAMILY of a young woman who died earlier this year after her cancer was misdiagnosed at Ennis General Hospital received an apology from Health Minister Mary Harney when they met her last night.
The Minister also assured the family of Edel Kelly (26) from Kilrush that the findings of an inquiry now being launched into services at Ennis hospital would not be used to downgrade the facility.
Ms Kelly's parents John and Una Kelly, and her partner Noel McGreene, were accompanied by their solicitor Eugene O'Kelly when they met Ms Harney for over an hour at the Department of Health.
Afterwards Mr O'Kelly said the meeting had been positive and the Minister was very sincere in her apology. "She said she was very sorry for the misdiagnosis that resulted in Edel Kelly not receiving treatment for over 13 months," he said.
"In addition she said that the independent inquiry would deal with what went wrong in Edel's case."
The inquiry being carried out by the Health Information and Quality Authority was ordered after Ms Kelly and another woman, the late Ann Moriarty (53), had their cancers misdiagnosed at Ennis. It is to be completed within three months.
Mr O'Kelly said Ms Harney also indicated "she was not going to use the findings of the report as some plank in another agenda to downgrade Ennis . . . she did not want to see the tragedy of Edel's death as support for some cause that there might be in the HSE to downgrade Ennis".
Ms Kelly first noticed a lump on her left breast in July 2006 and attended Ennis hospital. A biopsy examined at Limerick Regional Hospital found no tumour present but it recommended she be followed up with a clinical examination. She was never told about this.
It was only in October 2007, after she felt unwell, that her cancer was finally diagnosed, by which time it had spread to her liver and bones. She died in June.