THE death of a teenager whilst undergoing surgery at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) in 2018 was due to “a series of significant and avoidable errors in the lead up to and during her surgery”, according to a statement from HSE Mid West.
18-year-old Jessica Sheedy, a beauty therapist from Bruff, County Limerick, suffered multiple organ failure and died three days after a surgery to remove a tumour from her abdomen, in which complications arose.
A statement this Tuesday (January 20) from HSE Mid West said the health services is “aware of the submissions made by Dr Ashish Lal to the Medical Council in relation to Jessica Sheedy’s care at University Hospital Limerick”.
“Specifically, our investigations have concluded that adequate safeguards were not in place to prevent this high-risk operation, a procedure that should not have been performed at our facility at that time,” the HSE statement read.
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Sandra Broderick, regional executive officer HSE Mid West, said that “there is no doubt that we failed Jessica and her family”.
“The failure was one of significant proportions, with clear catastrophic consequences. It is with a profound sense of remorse and regret that Jessica lost her life owing to our failures.”
The statement said that the HSE CEO and regional senior leaders have met with the late Ms Sheedy’s family to express these sentiments directly.
“We further and publicly emphasise our organisational responsibility for the ongoing grief and suffering experienced by the family,” Ms Broderick said.
“In failing Jessica in the way that we did, we failed her family. Their ongoing loss is something we can only ever try to understand.”
“On behalf of the HSE Mid West senior leadership team, we offer our most sincere and unequivocal apology to Jessica’s parents, Ann and James, their family and friends for their unimaginable and devastating loss.
“There are no words sufficient to express the sincerity of our apology, nor any that can take away the pain and suffering you have endured and continue to endure.”
In response to the tragic death, HSE Mid West said it has conducted a further review of its surgical safeguards and clinical protocols to ensure that high-risk procedures are only conducted under the most stringent safety conditions.
The HSE statement said that Jessica’s case “represents a specific and avoidable failure in care”.
“We accept full institutional responsibility for the catastrophic and irreparable harm caused. We want to reassure our community that this is not a reflection of our wider surgical and medical departments, in their ongoing commitment to patient safety and excellence.”
During the two-day hearing this week, it has been reported that heard surgeon Dr Ashish Lal was found guilty of three counts of professional misconduct and 10 poor professional performance by the Medical Council over delays in treating Ms Sheedy.