A private hospital has brought High Court proceedings against a former patient’s widow who it claims is publishing false and misleading information about it on social media.
The Beacon Hospital Sandyford Limited alleges Veronica Delaney is engaged in a prolonged campaign of spreading falsehoods of the most serious kinds against the hospital and its medical professionals.
It is alleged that the defendant’s late husband John was previously a patient of the hospital.
It claims he died of a form of blood cancer known as IgG kappa myeloma on April 1st, 2022.
Ireland has been surpassed as ‘the largest open-air lunatic asylum in the world’
Nanci Griffith: From a Distance review – harrowing account of the country music star’s life that ended in isolation and alcoholism
Patrick Freyne: I joined a gym this year. Here’s how working out is working out
‘Show some respect’, Brian Cowen told Gerry Adams in furious Belfast meeting, records show
The hospital, represented by Owen Keany BL, claims Ms Delaney, with an address at Weston Crescent, Lucan, Co Dublin, raised concerns about the care the hospital provided to her husband between March 2022 until the time of his death.
The hospital claims it engaged extensively with her with sympathy and sensitivity following the immense loss she suffered.
However, it claims that over the last 12 months she has engaged in an unwarranted campaign against the Beacon and has attacked it with a litany of false allegations.
It claims that since September 2022 she has posted dozens of untrue statements on social media platforms X and LinkedIn using different handles and names.
The hospital, through its solicitors Sherwin O’Riordan LLP, corresponded with Ms Delaney with a view to having the statements removed.
The hospital claims this has not been possible and her statements have become more extreme and damaging.
The court also heard that Ms Delaney brought High Court proceedings against the hospital and coroner, Dr Myra Cullinane, asking for steps be taken to amend the cause of her late husband’s death.
It is claimed those proceedings were dismissed by the High Court.
The hospital seeks orders against Ms Delaney, including injunctions restraining her from publishing statements of a false and misleading nature concerning the hospital.
It also seeks an order restraining the defendant from publishing any material which asserts or implies that the plaintiff is guilty of murder, engaged in the process of euthanasia, is guilty of medical manslaughter, has culled patients, are serial killers, has engaged in criminal conduct, has falsified documentation and is covering up and concealing the cause of the defendant’s husband’s death.
The matter came before Ms Justice Siobhán Stack on Wednesday.
The judge, on an ex parte basis, granted the hospital permission to serve short notice of the injunction application on the defendant.
The matter will return before the court later this month.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis