Campaigner Roisín Molloy has repeated a call for an independent investigation process in cases of unexplained deaths in hospital in the wake of the High Court settlement this week into the death of baby Laoise Ní Scoilaí.
It was “unfortunate but not unusual” that families were lied to, and how they were treated at a time when they were so vulnerable, she told RTÉ radio’s News at One. Such behaviour had been going on for years, and while unfortunate, it had not changed.
Ms Molloy, whose baby Mark died in 2012 as a result of failings in his care at Portlaoise hospital, said that families had to seek out information that should have been provided to them.
“It's hard to put into words how time-consuming it is, how when you're trying to live your day-to-day life, to come to terms with the fact that your son has died or someone belonging to you has died or you yourself have suffered an injury.
“On top of that, you have to live your life while trying to find the answers.” The HSE had all the answers, but they did not offer them.
“You have to go looking for them yourself. You spend countless hours looking for ways in which to ask the questions first and foremost, and then to get them to give you the answers to investigate appropriately.
“It's really, really traumatic, but it's compounded by constantly reliving what happened in the first place while trying to find the truth of what happened. It is horrific to go through that.”
Open disclosure policy
When asked about the open disclosure policy that was introduced after the death of her son Mark, Ms Molloy said: “It's like every other policy. It's just a policy. There was no legislation to underpin it, so it can't be enforced.”
Open disclosure was just a “piece of the puzzle”, a piece of the jigsaw in the search for information into what happened and to prevent the likelihood of it happening again.
“Currently in Ireland, we have the open disclosure legislation coming in at bill stage but what we don't have is an appropriate investigation process.
“Over the last 11 years since our son died, we have been approached by numerous families looking for help in how to get answers as to why their loved one died or their baby died.”
The common theme in most of the cases, she said, was that the HSE did not seem to be following any direct policy. Ms Molloy and her husband reported their concerns to department heads about the lack of proper training for the staff conducting these investigations. That a lack of training was a risk to patients.
The couple felt their concerns were taken seriously but there still wasn’t a robust investigation process, she said.
“It has to be in the form of a robust investigation. So how will we get the truth if we don't have that robust investigation process. How can the open disclosure policy work if the information is flawed?”
Ms Molloy said there needed to be a process where people were accountable for the work they did, that they were answerable for their actions. Everybody within the organisation had to understand their role.
The Sláintecare report had included a strategy on such accountability and governance, she said, but nothing had happened since.
“Nothing's happened and it's stagnant. It's not even mentioned anymore in the most recent plan.”
