A grieving mother has claimed that she learned of her daughter's Covid death when she received a condolence message on Facebook - because hospital staff allegedly refused to speak to her about the patient's condition.
Mary O’Brien-O’Shea, from County Clare in Ireland, alleges that she was refused an update about her daughter Aisling O’Reilly's deteriorating condition due to the UL Hospitals’ Group's policy of only liaising with a designated member of a family.
Ms O'Reilly, 42, passed away following a seizure at University Hospital Limerick last December.
Her heartbroken mum is now calling on the group to end its policy of only liaising directly with one nominated point of contact for providing information about close family members in ICU, the Irish Mirror reports.
Mary recalled the devastating moment she found out about her child's death, explaining how she phoned the hospital after receiving a Facebook condolence message.
She said: “I rang at 8.45am the following morning, the same time as other days. I got through to the ICU and spoke to a staff nurse and asked him 'how was Aisling?' He said 'give me your phone number'.
"I knew then there was something wrong. I said 'you are frightening me now, please tell me my daughter is still with me'."
Mary said that she found out that her daughter was dead for 15 hours by the time she was informed.
She continued: “I gave him my phone number. Within a couple of minutes my eldest daughter, Avril rang to say Aisling has passed away after a seizure. My daughter was dead 15 hours before I found out.
"The phone fell out of my hand while the local coal man was putting coal into the coal bunker.
"He was knocking on the back door looking for his money. He saw me in floods of tears. I told him my daughter is dead. I was lead to believe that next-of-kin was a legally binding thing when I couldn’t get information.
"I thought staff were protecting themselves because they weren’t allowed to give information to me."
Mary recalled her problems with UHL started when Aisling was no longer physically able to ring her from her mobile.
Aisling suffered from renal difficulties and during the last 18 months of her life, her body started to reject her second kidney but she wasn’t well enough to go on a kidney transplant waiting list.
In September 2020, Aisling was admitted for treatment to UHL and was transferred into ICU when her condition deteriorated.
“I rang religiously every morning to find out is my daughter still with me. All I got from hospital staff in ICU who answered the phone was sorry we can only give information to next-of-kin.
“I used to say ‘I am her mother, I am as close as you possibly be to her, I gave birth to her. I am next-of-kin, I just want to know is she still with me.'"
She eventually got to visit her daughter before she passed, an experience she described as her "hardest journey".
“It was the hardest journey I ever had to take because I knew I was saying goodbye to my daughter", she said.
"They gowned me up. I said 'I can’t understand why all along you didn’t let me see Aisling'.
“'Does it have to come down to this before I could get to see her,' I asked. At this stage I didn’t know whether I was allowed to see Aisling because of my contact with politicians or because she was dying."
She said she told Aisling "how much I loved her and how proud I was of her."
The policy of only speaking with the next-of-kin appears to be in direct conflict with a response provided by HSE (The Health Service Executive, the publicly funded healthcare system in the Republic of Ireland) acute operations general manager, Carol Ivory, to a Dáil (House of Representatives) question from Deputy Cathal Crowe.
Ms Ivory stated: “Even, for example, where there is a large family, if a single person is recorded as the first person to contact, this again does not imply that others are not to be kept informed or contacted. This is in accordance with the guidance of the HSE National Consent Policy.”
The UL Hospitals’ Group completed a report after an internal investigation and another review by a different HSE official.
However, Mary isn’t happy with how the group dealt with her complaint and has lodged a review request with the Ombudsman.
A group spokesman stated it would be inappropriate to comment on this matter, which has been dealt with through their official complaints process. The group continue to be available to engage directly with Ms O'Brien.
