Achill boy lost life to rare disease

The Coroner for Mayo has said it may not have been appropriate for an Achill boy to be discharged from Mayo University Hospital five days before he died in September 2021.

Mr Patrick O’Connor also called for the Paediatric Unit at MUH to be properly resourced after recording an open verdict at the inquest into the death of Joseph McGinty in Swinford Court House on Monday.

A Second Year student at Coláiste Pobail Acla, Joseph McGinty died on his way to MUH on September 13, 2021. Mr O’Connor ruled that the medical cause of death was ‘profound adrenal pathology consistent with Addison’s Disease’.

He said Addison’s Disease is extremely rare. The condition is a disorder of the adrenal glands where not enough cortisol and aldosterone are produced. Loss of appetite, unintentional weight loss and fatigue are some of the symptoms.

In his recommendations, Mr O’Connor called for the Paediatric Department of MUH to be ‘fully and adequately resourced so that it is in a position to provide the facilities for treatment and diagnosis for paediatric patients as would be expected of it’.

He also recommended that resources be put in place for a Bereavement Officer to be made available to all bereaved family members following deaths at the hospital.

In a lengthy and detailed statement, Mr O’Connor said there was no evidence connecting Master McGinty’s death with a Covid vaccine received 24 days earlier. The coroner stated that after receiving depositions, statements and reports running to 3,500 pages and after hearing from 18 witnesses, “None of the medical evidence presented to me during the course of this inquest and the enquiries made by me, established that there was any link whatsoever to the administration of the Covid vaccine to Joseph McGinty.”

Mr O’Connor also stated: “There was no evidence whatsoever that he had contracted Covid nor was there any evidence whatsoever that he died from Covid.

The inquest, which was held over three days in July and concluded yesterday (Monday), had heard that the teenager had experienced significant weight-loss in the four months before his death and that he had been unable to hold down food.

He attended MUH on September 1, 2021, and was treated with suspected gastroenteritis before being discharged the following morning. He attended the hospital again on September 8 after his condition failed to improve. His mother, Patricia McGinty, told the inquest that he had been sent home that day, despite feeling dizzy and weak.

He continued to vomit over the following days and collapsed in his home in the morning of September 13. He was pronounced dead at 7.47am, on his way to hospital.

His GP, Dr Edward King had recommended that an ‘urgent investigation’ be carried out to diagnose his condition in his referral letter to the hospital.

The inquest was told that apart from bloods being taken no other investigation had taken the place, despite Mrs McGinty asking the doctor to perform scans or X-rays. She said she was told the boy was not sick enough and was sent home.

Mrs McGinty said the family had offered to pay for a scan or X-ray but were refused. Mr John Paul McGinty said they had hoped their son could be sent to Crumlin Children’s Hospital or to Galway University Hospital to get to the bottom of his ongoing health issues.

In his inquest report, Mr O’Connor said it wasn’t for him to decide if any opportunities had been missed, by commission or omission. However, he said, there had been a clear breakdown in the understanding between Patricia McGinty (Joseph’s mother) and the clinicians at MUH.

“The medical staff in Mayo University Hospital did what they thought was best in the circumstances for Joseph McGinty on the occasion of his visits there. However, in hindsight it may have been appropriate and better not to have discharged Joseph from the hospital on September 8 so that further tests, examinations and records could be obtained to get to the root of his deteriorating medical condition."

Mr McGinty had earlier described MUH’s treatment of the family following their son’s death as ‘diabolical’, saying the institution had retained the boy’s organs without their knowledge. He said that three months after his death, the local undertaker informed him that the hospital had contacted her to say he had until 3pm that day to collect these organs.

Mr McGinty said he had no idea that the hospital had retained the organs until then, and that the family then had to organise to collect them and have them interned with the body of their son.

At the conclusion of Monday’s inquest, a letter was read out from Catherine Donohue General Manager of Mayo University Hospital expressing the sincere and heartfelt sympathy of the management and staff to the McGinty family and said she would take appropriate action to improve the services of the hospital into the future.

Meanwhile a GoFundMe page ‘Help to get justice for Joseph’, set up by Master McGinty’s sister Maggie, has amassed €1,300 from more than 60 donations. The page bio states that it was set up in order to get a doctor in England to look at Joseph’s medical files. It has a fundraising target of €10,000.