An inquest has revealed that Aoife Johnston, aged 16, wasn’t administered antibiotics for over 15 hours after her arrival at University Hospital Limerick’s emergency department, where she was suspected of having sepsis. Despite her designation as a Category 2 patient, which technically required attention from a medical professional within 10 to 15 minutes after her admission on 17th December 2022, she was overlooked. Tragically, she passed away on 19th December due to sepsis-induced meningitis.
The nursing staff at the emergency department had reached out to two consultants that same night to inform them regarding the uncontrolled scenario in the department, but one of the consultants opted not to come to the hospital. Patricia Donovan, Assistant Director of Nursing at the hospital, expressed her disappointment about this, especially considering the critical state of the department that week.
Donovan passed on the information about emergency department overcrowding to Katherine Skelly, the Clinical Nurse Manager, and encouraged her to relay this to the consultants, as they needed to be cognizant of the influx of Category 2 patients. It emerged during the inquest that despite Aoife Johnston being the most ill patient the night of December 17th, Donovan was uninformed of her status, though she had visited the emergency department multiple times during her shift.
Acknowledging the counsel for the Johnston family, Damian Tansey SC, Donovan agreed that untreated sepsis carries a 100% mortality rate. She also confirmed that there was a preoccupation with treating fractures and other bone injuries that same night within the emergency department. Donovan ended her testimony by expressing regret and sympathy for the Johnson family, acknowledging the significant blow to the hospital staff who were on duty the night of Aoife’s admission.
The inquest, presided over by Dr John McNamara at Limerick Coroner’s Court in Kilmallock, is ongoing.