Speaking to RTÉ’s Prime Time, Carol and James Johnston called for greater accountability from the HSE and the State.
Aoife (16) from Shannon in Co Clare died at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after waiting 13-and-a-half hours to be treated for suspected sepsis.
Her parents told Miriam O’Callaghan a recently published report from retired judge, former chief justice Frank Clarke, has not “revealed anything” about their daughter’s death.
“I do firmly believe that if Aoife was in a different hospital, she would have survived that night,” Ms Johnston said.
“Aoife’s nearly gone two years, and we’ve never really spoke much about it, but we’re angry because we’re thinking back about everything that’s gone on and we expect more answers from the hospital.”
The death of Aoife Johnston
An anonymised version of Mr Clarke’s report was released by the HSE on September 20, after her family called for it to be published in full.
Last week, the Sunday Independent revealed an unredacted copy of the report showed there was “a significant and material” conflict of evidence between senior members of staff over an instruction to place trolleys on wards at UHL.
Fianna Fáil Senator from Clare Timmy Dooley has called for a statutory inquiry to be held into Aoife’s death and said Mr Clarke’s report “had failed abysmally to establish the clear facts around what happened on the night”.
“What’s not in dispute here is that something really wrong happened on that night in UHL. And it’s not exclusive to that night as mismanagement has pervaded this hospital for far too long,” Mr Dooley said.
“But on that night, it crystallised in the worst possible way. A teenage girl lost her life, her parents, James and Carol, have been left without a daughter and Megan and Kate have been left without a sister.”
He said Mr Clarke’s report, the internal review by Dr Vida Hamilton and the inquest into Aoife’s death “had all failed to provide the answers the family deserve around the factual circumstances that contributed to her death”.
Aoife’s parents told Prime Time they feel there is still no resolution as to why she died following Mr Clarke’s report.
“I know it’s overcrowded. I know there’s a lot wrong with the hospital. We can’t just accept that. Definitely on the night, it went wrong in other ways, not just through overcrowding,” Ms Johnston said.
“When Aoife died, a part of us definitely died. Our life has totally changed for the worse. I can’t see happy days coming. I can’t see them. We try our best. We try and just take each day, as it comes, but it’s very sad. It’s lonely. It’s different. It’s quiet.
“She was about to do her Leaving [Cert] and start onto a new chapter in life. We see all her friends have moved on to those stages, and it’s hard because you do think, ‘Oh, God, I wonder what Aoife would be doing now’.”
Carol and James Johnston’s interview will air on Prime Time on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player at 9.35 on Thursday, October 3.
