Long waiting times for specialist consultations are causing many overseas residents to go back to their homelands for various medical treatments, according to a distinguished oncologist. Prof Seamus O’Reilly, the head of cancer treatments and a consulting medical oncologist at Cork University Hospital, revealed that foreign nationals diagnosed with diseases such as cancer often choose to seek treatment in healthcare systems they trust and where they face no language difficulties. He lamented that the extensive waiting lists and questions raised about quick accessibility in our system don’t foster much confidence in the patients.
This issue materialised during a hearing at Cork City Coroner’s Court regarding the demise of Latvian national, Elena Shcherbakova, aged 48, who previously resided in Castletownbere at Mariners View, Derryminihan West. She passed away at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork on December 17th. Shcherbakova’s son, Artjom, aged 16, informed the coroner that his mother sought consultation in her hometown when she felt sick during the summer, as her GP advised her about the potential delay in specialist consultation.
Choosing to go back to Latvia, where her daughter lived, she was hospitalised in Riga for a hysterectomy. However, it was discovered there that she was afflicted by stage 2 cancer in her stomach, and had to undergo surgery to remove a tumour. On her return to Cork on December 1st, Shcherbakova had an appointment with Prof O’Reilly after 10 days, with another scheduled for January to strategise a treatment plan involving chemo and radiation therapies to lessen the cancer’s chance of recurrence.
Tragically, she fell ill and passed out at her home on December 14th. She was immediately taken to the Mercy University Hospital where a CAT scan revealed an infection in an artery responsible for blood supply to her intestines. Dr. Gavin O’Brien explained that her superior mesenteric artery contracted an infection during the surgery in Riga and was too vulnerable for a surgical intervention, leading to an attempted control of the infection through antibiotics.
Doctors had hoped that by administrating antibiotics, they could improve the condition of Ms Shcherbakova’s artery enough to enable surgery which would secure the blood flow to her intestines. Unfortunately, she was dealing with an extraordinarily rare and intricate medical predicament and passed away on the 17th of December.
A postmortem examination was conducted on the 19th of December, by Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Margot Bolster. From her findings, she deduced that the cause of Ms Shcherbakova’s demise was haemorrhaging resulting from a rupture of a mesenteric pseudoaneurysm, also known as a damaged wall of a blood vessel.
According to Dr Bolster, the situation was further complicated owing to sepsis at the juncture where two structures in her intestine had previously been stitched together after a partial gastrectomy due to stomach cancer and a swollen gallbladder.
Coroner Philip Comyn indicated that Ms Shcherbakova’s medical state was extremely intricate. He stated that the infection in the artery was so severe that the tissues were not viable for surgical intervention. Medical practitioners attended to her as adequately as possible under the given conditions.
Mr Comyn’s conclusion was a narrative verdict, stating that Ms Shcherbakova died due to familiar complications of a medical process, compounded by her intricate medical background. He expressed his condolences to her spouse, Alexander, and their son, Artjom on their bereavement.