The family of a young man who died after crucial information on his medical condition on a note in his file was mislaid are considering further action through a complaint to the Medical Council.
The family of Mr Kevin Murphy (21) received a €76,600 settlement in the High Court on Monday after it emerged that a condition of high calcium levels, identified in blood tests in 1997, went untreated for two years.
Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, his mother, Margaret, said the family now intended to take further action in relation to Kevin's death.
While welcoming the outcome of the High Court case, she said the family planned to take further action and would be consulting with each other before deciding on what route to take.
This includes the possibility of lodging a complaint with the Medical Council regarding the handling of his case, she said.
"We know this is not going to be the end of it. We set out to find out what really happened to Kevin. This was finally acknowledged in the High Court, and hopefully it will not happen to other people again."
Her son's condition, hypercalcemia, is very treatable, she said, with a survival rate of 95 per cent if properly treated, according to expert opinion. The family had yet to be told by the Mercy Hospital in Cork - where her son was initially admitted in September 1999, but did not receive treatment for his condition - as to whether the hospital had changed its procedures since his death.
They had taken a case against the Mercy Hospital, Cork, and four doctors who treated Mr Murphy at various stages: Dr Neil Brennan, a consultant at the hospital; Dr George Mullan, an orthopaedic surgeon; and Mr Murphy's general practitioners, Dr Norman Murphy and Dr Fergus O'Connell.
Mr Murphy died in hospital in September 1999, despite the fact that details indicating his condition were noted in his medical file. Dr Brennan, who was treating him at the time, said he did not notice details of a blood test identifying high calcium levels until after Mr Murphy's death, as they had been written on a Post-it note attached to the back of a referral letter.