The family of a 54-year-old Donegal woman who died after what was described as a "catalogue of errors" in her care have urged the Health Service Executive to implement the recommendations of a serious incident review into her care.
The court heard Bridie Kelly from Drumbeigh, Mountcharles, had twice attended Letterkenny University Hospital in 2018, but died after a failure to properly diagnose and treat a blood clot.
It emerged that at the time of her death Ms Kelly was undergoing an unnecessary CT scan of her brain, which was meant for another patient of the same name.
The High Court approved a settlement of the case against the HSE for €325,000.
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The High Court heard Ms Kelly had attended the emergency department on 27 February 2018 with intense pain and swelling in her leg.
She was discharged home despite a test known as the D-Dimer test, which is used to diagnose clots showed she was two-and-a-half times above normal levels.
There was a failure to carry out an ultrasound scan or prescribe anticoagulants.
Ms Kelly returned to hospital on 22 April where the same test for blood clots showed she had a level ten times the upper limit of normal.
The court heard this could only have been caused by a deep vein thrombosis, which would have responded to treatment.
Two days later, she was finally diagnosed by an ultrasound, but there was an error in the dosage of the drugs given and she was only given a fraction of what was required.
Her lawyers told the High Court she was in effect untreated for 48 hours. On 30 April, Ms Kelly suffered a massive clot on her lung and died.
Barrister Doireann O'Mahony told the High Court her family was very aggrieved at the way in which she was "neglected and deprived of life-saving treatment".
A serious incident review in 2019 carried out by the Saolta University Healthcare group concluded there were failures in Ms Kelly's care, including the consideration of possible diagnoses and a failure to carry out ultrasound tests.
It also emerged that Ms Kelly had died while having a CT scan of her brain, which had been ordered and carried out three days previously for another patient of the same name.
The hospital apologised for the deficits in clinical care and the events that occurred in the lead up to Ms Kelly's death.
Solicitor Ciaran Tansey speaks on behalf of the Kelly family who settled their case against the HSE. Their mother Bridie died in 2018 after a failure to diagnose and treat a blood clot in time. More on @RTENewsNow pic.twitter.com/uqOGqLJNxf
— Vivienne Traynor (@viviennetraynor) November 10, 2020
After today's settlement, the family solicitor Ciaran Tansey, said the family had to witness a catalogue of errors when their beloved Bridie was being treated for an entirely treatable condition.
He said Ms Kelly's condition was perfectly treatable with a readily available anti-coagulant.
Mr Tansey said the family was determined that the HSE implement fully all of the recommendations arising from the serious incident review.
