A family suing over the death of a 21-year-old woman hours after her discharge from hospital have expressed upset that the Health Service Executive (HSE) claims she was determined to leave.
Eve Cleary, from Corbally, Co Limerick, was in University Hospital Limerick for a significant period, having hurt her leg, and was on a hospital trolley in a corridor where there was a stench of urine, the High Court was told on Friday.
Senior counsel for the Cleary family, Dr John O’Mahony, said they were “very troubled and upset“ by the HSE’s suggestion that Ms Cleary “wanted to be discharged”.
Previously, the HSE’s senior counsel, Simon Mills, said Ms Cleary did not want to be in the emergency department and that her mother earlier told the court the setting was a very unpleasant place for her to be unwell.
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Ms Justice Emily Egan interjected to say Mrs Cleary’s evidence was that Eve spoke to her mother and said she wanted to go home but her mother advised her to stay.
Counsel said the evidence from his side will be that Eve was so determined to leave that a discharge against medical advice form was prepared. The blank form was not signed but had a sticky note on it.
Ms Cleary died in the early hours of July 21st, 2019, two days after going to the emergency department because she fell and hurt her leg. Her death occurred some three hours after being discharged and told to rest at home.
Her parents, Barry Cleary and Melanie Sheehan Cleary, and her siblings, Kate, Elizabeth, Sarah, Emma and Sean, all of Corbally, Co Limerick, have sued the HSE over her death and for mental distress.
It is claimed that Ms Cleary was allowed to develop a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and that an opportunity was missed at the hospital to put her on the anticoagulant Heparin on admission.
The HSE accepts a formal risk assessment for blood clots was not done but has denied all other claims. The HSE does not accept the failure to carry out the risk assessment was a breach of duty. It says the treatment and management of Ms Cleary was reasonable and appropriate.
In court on Friday, Dr O’Mahony, appearing with Doireann O’Mahony BL, said there was no reference in the legal papers regarding the suggestion Ms Cleary wanted to be discharged and this was not pleaded in the HSE’s defence.
Mr Mills, for the HSE, said Ms Cleary’s mother gave evidence on the matter and he simply presented it as an element in the case. Counsel pointed out it was not a major point.
At the opening of the case earlier this week, Dr O’Mahony said Ms Cleary was apprehensive about being discharged, asking: “Are you sure?”
The case continues next week.
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