HSE 'put me through five years of hell'

The husband of a woman who died in controversial circumstances in Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, in 2004 and who settled his claim for alleged negligience in her treatment in the High Court said this week that he was "put through five years of torture" by the health authorities in their approach to his case. Derek Jackson (56), Herbert Place, Navan, suing on behalf of himself and his three children, who are now 15, 13 and 11, alleged negligence in the medical treatment and care provided to his wife, Miriam (39) at the Navan hospital, and sought damages for loss and mental distress suffered as a result. Mrs Jackson died in hospital two weeks after being admitted with a complicated chronic small bowel obstruction. The family secured €564,000 in settlement of the High Court action. The family said that they were inconsolable as a result of the untimely death of a much-loved wife and mother. Among more than 20 claims of negligence, it was alleged the defendant hospital failed to treat Mrs Jackson in accordance with a urine sample which showed E coli infection and allowed septicaemia to develop and go untreated for a significant period. It was also alleged senior doctors failed to clinically review her condition. In the aftermath of the court settlement, Mr Jackson said at his home this week that liability had been admitted by the hospital "yet they put me through agony and torture for five years in trying to negotiate me down to almost nothing for the loss of my wife, and the loss of a mother to our children". He called for a "root and branch" overhaul of the system of assessing damages in cases where there was clear evidence of negligence by a hospital. He said that it was some time after the death of his wife in September 2004 before he was alerted that he was "not getting the full facts" about her death. He moved to delay the inquest into her death and, when it was eventually held, he brought a family friend, Shane Roche, a consultant at St Mary's Hospital, London, who raised questions about Ms Jackson's treatment at the inquest. Meath County Coroner John Lacy had asked a consultant at Our Lady's Hospital if he was surprised at the way Mrs Jackson had gone downhill, and he replied that it was totally unexpected. However, Mr Roche argued that details in Ms Jackson's patient charts and records, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, had indicated her earlier decline. Her family had noticed "with an untrained eye" something was wrong from studying the charts. Mr Jackson said this week that he had been "rowing against the tide for five years" in his pursuit of the claim on behalf of himself and his children. "I only did this for the future of my children. I couldn't let people lie to me and I exposed the hospital," he said. "They treated me appallingly for five years. They wouldn't treat a dog like the way I have been treated. As someone who has suffered for five years, I shouldn't have been put in that position. Nobody has explained to me the logic of using all this money to fight the case." The case should have been dealt with "in an agreed and acceptable manner without all this legal toing and froing", he said, especially when the case was going to the High Court for assessment of damages only. "They are getting away with this because nobody is objecting to it," Mr Jackson added. "On the eve of the settlement, they were offering me one-third of the money that was eventually agreed. "They left me swinging in the wind with the possibility of a poor settlement and the possibility of a legal bill of €150,000. That was the pressure I was under," he added. Mr Jackson said it was very important for him to state on his own behalf and that of the children that what had gone on in the authorities' treatment of the case was "so wrong". He added: "I have gone through absolute agony since Miriam died. There was no sense of humanity in the whole thing. "But I'm not going to be bitter. My kids are going to be looked after and I have the satisfaction that they (the authorities) didn't steamroll me." A spokesperson for the HSE said it had extended its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the deceased. The incident had been reviewed in accordance with HSE Incident Review Policy, the spokesperson added.