The failure of the State to vindicate and protect the life of Aoife Johnson entitles her family to answers about her death, a solicitor for the Johnston family has said.
Aoife Johnston died from meningitis on 19 December 2022, two days after being admitted to University Hospital Limerick with symptoms of sepsis.
It later emerged that she had been waiting for 13 hours before she received antibiotics, despite a GP referral letter querying possible sepsis.
The Johnson family has settled a High Court action against the HSE in which they claimed there was a failure to have enough staff in the emergency department, leading to delays and that her death had been hastened by a failure to treat her as seriously ill until she seriously deteriorated the following morning.
Damien Tansey said the State failed the Johnston family through the agency of the HSE, therefore, the State is the only authority with the necessary resources to provide answers.
"The very least the Johnston family are entitled to, given the failure of the State to vindicate and protect the life of their daughter, is to provide a process of the kind that will produce answers," he said
But, he added, that to date and on the second anniversary of her death - no answers have been forthcoming.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme, Mr Tansey said the family are awaiting a decision on the part of the new Government to conduct a statutory inquiry.
The family, he said, want answers and accountability, adding that that there is "no reason why a statutory inquiry should take years".
Mr Tansey said the Frank Clarke report was a complete waste of time, but that HSE Chief Executive Bernard Gloster said it was needed to provide pathways for accountability.
He said a statutory inquiry is needed as this would provide an opportunity to challenge and test the evidence provided.
The Johnston family will meet the new Minister for Health and/or the new Taoiseach to indicate what they require in relation to an inquiry, he said.
He added that processes are under way with a view to ensuring accountability, but all legal processes by the family are now at an end.
Report recommendations being 'pursued'
The HSE said that recommendations of the Frank Clarke report "are being pursued and used to improve services" on a national, Limerick and policy level.
The Department of Health has also echoed this, saying "a number of HR and legal processes arising from the Clarke report are ongoing within the HSE".
Regarding proceedings involving Chief Clinical Director of UL Hospitals Group Professor Brian Lenehan, the HSE said: "There is a disciplinary process under way as part" of the executive's disciplinary procedures.
In a statement to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, it added that it is "important" to the rights of those involved that the process continues in private.
The statement said Mr Lenehan and the HSE "reached an agreement with regard to the matters of Prof Lenehan's injunction application".
Professor Lenehan, it said, "will return to his role as Chief Clinical Director, reporting in the context of the new regional structures, until the conclusion of his contract in June 2025".
It said: "Professor Lenehan had been placed on administrative leave from his role as Chief Clinical Director only and not his role as a consultant surgeon.
"The HSE is satisfied that the disciplinary investigation will continue and will not comment further on that process."
It said that Mr Lenehan "will participate in the disciplinary investigation as appropriate".
