Family of Cork woman who never woke up after surgery at CUH settle case for €400,000

The family’s counsel, Dr John O’Mahony SC with James Cross BL, told the High Court it was a very sad case. He said everything appeared to go well in the February 2014 surgery but Mrs Kelly “never resurrected from the anaesthesia” and was completely unconscious for 22 months before her death on December 17, 2015.

“All that time she was unconscious in bed,” he told Mr Justice Paul Coffey. Counsel said an MRI and other tests showed Mrs Kelly was brain damaged. He said the issues in the case were complicated and the identification of the causation was not clear cut. Mrs Kelly, he said, never regained consciousness and died of bronchial pneumonia.

Liability, Dr O’Mahony said, was fully contested in the case and the settlement was reached after mediation. Mrs Kelly’s husband John Kelly of Castletreasure, Douglas Cork had sued the HSE over the death of his wife.

Mrs Kelly was admitted to Cork University Hospital on February 11, 2014, for surgery as a day patient. She did not wake up from the anaesthetic and had a seizure on February 27, 2014. She never recovered and died on December 17, 2015.

Family’s claims

It was claimed that Mrs Kelly had been admitted for day case surgery when they knew or ought to have known that day case surgery was allegedly inadequate in the circumstances, and in particular where Mrs Kelly was obese.

There was, it was further claimed, an alleged failure to take any or any adequate account of the woman’s history of diabetes, hypertension and obesity.

The HSE admitted a breach of duty in relation to some elements of the anaesthesia care provided to Mrs Kelly, including anaesthetic pre-assessment, medical record keeping, blood pressure management, oxygenation and blood glucose management. However, it said these could not with certainty be deemed factors associated with the death of Mrs Kelly.

The HSE denied that the woman’s death was caused by any alleged negligence or breach of duty and contended that the neck surgery on Mrs Kelly was performed in a standard way with the usual approach to the cervical spine and a standard disc excision. The blood oxygen levels, it said, were observed during the surgery to be lower than expected but were not below a critical level and the majority of blood pressure readings were in the normal range.

Noting the settlement, Mr Justice Paul Coffey said it was a very tragic case and he conveyed his deepest sympathy to the Kelly family.

Inquest

The inquest into Mrs Kelly’s death heard she was a diabetic and had a history of hypertension. She suffered a simple fall in November 2013 but needed an urgent operation. Patricia’s husband John dropped her off for the neck surgery expecting to pick her up later in the day but was told at 12.30pm that she was not waking up.

When the family arrived at the hospital, it was claimed all they were told was that the operation had gone well but no explanation was given as to why she was not waking up. Mrs Kelly never regained consciousness and remained in a coma at CUH for 22 months until her death on December 17, 2015.