Family settles action over hospital death

The family of an 82-year-old man who died at Mayo University Hospital three days after he was admitted following a road traffic accident has settled a High Court action for €55,000.
It was claimed that Darby King, who was on anti-coagulation medicine, was not administered blood-clotting medication until ten hours after his A&E admission.
An inquest into the death of Mr King, of Derrynalecka, Castlebar, at Mayo General Hospital (now Mayo University Hospital) was held three years ago. The jury returned a verdict of medical misadventure.
Mr King sustained minor injuries in a traffic collision on April 24, 2014, but his condition deteriorated in the days that followed, and he died three days later, on April 27.
The inquest was told an ‘unacceptable delay’ in administering the blood-clotting medication seriously compromised his chances of survival.
In the High Court on Monday, Mr Justice Robert Eager approved a settlement of €55,000 in the case.
Mr King’s daughter Caroline Murnane, on behalf of the family, said outside court that they were very relieved to finally have closure on this case.
“There are no words to describe what the past four years has done to us. We were traumatised by Dad’s death, and we have spent the last four years trying to get justice for him and to give him a voice,” Ms Murnane said.
“We have been tormented every day by the events that unfolded the day Dad was admitted to the hospital. However, the verdict received from Dad’s inquest, together with the court ruling, will now allow us to move forward.”
Ms Murnane, Clogher, Claremorris, and her brother, John King, Drummin, Castlebar, had sued the HSE over the death of Mr King. It was claimed that Mr King was brought to the hospital’s emergency department by ambulance at about 12.30pm. He had suffered cuts to his face, nose and head and was confused.
He was noted to be on a number of medications, including the blood thinner warfarin.
He was transferred for acute medical assessment about 3pm, and his family told staff he was out of sorts and distressed and had a very bad headache. He was transferred back to the emergency department for a CT scan, which he had before 5pm.
The scan showed bleeding in the brain, and Beaumont Hospital was contacted and there was advice there was no role for surgical intervention and he should be sent for an MRI in six weeks, it was claimed.
Beaumont Hospital, it was claimed, was again contacted after 9pm and was told Mr King had a persistent headache and that no blood-clotting medication had been administered. It was claimed Beaumont advised the blood-clotting medication, a Prothrombin Complex Concentrate, be administered immediately.
Mr King’s condition deteriorated that night, and he was admitted to the intensive-care unit complaining of loss of vision, and he was not forming sentences correctly. It was claimed that blood-clotting medication was administered at 10.45pm. A CT scan was carried out after midnight that showed a significant extension of the subdural brain haemorrhage.
It was claimed that the advice was that the prognosis was poor, and by the early hours of April 25, Mr King was a candidate for palliative care.
The HSE denied all the claims against them.