Richard O'Donoghue Calls for Hospitals to Own Up to Failures
Richard O'Donoghue criticised prolonged investigations and legal battles that delay accountability in hospital error cases and urged immediate admission and remedial action. He cited a personal family spinal hardware failure and the death of Jessica Sheedy at Limanick Hospital to press for transparency and protections for future patients.
Personal account of surgical hardware failure
He described his son’s kyphosis operation, saying 136 staples and two rods were inserted and that the rods snapped 12 to 14 months later. He stressed the failure was the material’s fault rather than the surgeon’s, praised the surgeons’ care, and said his son required a second operation during his Leaving Cert but has since recovered.
Demand for owning mistakes and learning
He argued against protracted legal fights lasting five, ten or fifteen years and urged hospitals to admit mistakes promptly. He said if institutions own up early, they can learn, put measures in place and prevent future harm to other patients.
Case cited - Jessica Sheedy and Limanick Hospital
He referenced the case of Jessica Sheedy, who died in Limanick Hospital, noting that repeated investigations and apparent cover-ups delayed recognition that her death should never have happened. He warned that investigators who know the operator and successive cover-ups have obstructed timely diagnosis and remediation of systemic problems.
Appeal to the minister and hospitals
He thanked the minister for an unannounced visit to UHL and renewed his call that whoever makes a mistake in hospital should put their hand up and fix it. He said failure to do so leaves families without closure and fails to protect future patients, and urged the ministry and hospitals to prioritise transparency and rapid remedial action.
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Thank you very much. The Minister was speaking again and previously I thanked you for going to UHL. We spoke about, everyone is talking about here, about surgeons that have made mistakes and all the rest of it. It is not always a surgeon. I can talk from a personal issue myself where I had a son of myself had kyphosis and went through an operation and ended up having 136 staples in the back to put two rods into the back and 12 months or 14 months later they both snapped. That wasn't the surgeon's fault. That was the fault of the material. It is not always the surgeon's. I can't thank the surgeon's high enough for what they had done for my son that time but he had to go redo the operation a second time at his Leaving Cert. But he got through it and thankfully he is okay. But again, it was a failure in the bars that they put in. On the other hand, when we look at things, and I have mentioned this before in the likes of UHL and other hospitals around the country, if somebody does something wrong, we shouldn't be fighting it. Hands up, we got it wrong. Why are we fighting legal battles for 5 years, 10 years, 15 years when there was wrong done? Why don't we just say, listen to me, it was a learning. We got it wrong. We don't want this to happen to the next child or the next person in a hospital. We want to get it right. Not everyone is perfect. But if you own up to your mistakes at the start, we can then put in measures in place so people can be helped. I have spoken about a case on numerous occasions here, and I had permission to talk about it, which was Jessica Sheedy, who died in Limanick Hospital. It has gone on for years, and Minister, you are aware of this at the moment. Investigation after investigation after investigation. And the issues we are having here is, the people that are investigating know the person that does the operations. And then it has been, what will we do? And it is cover up after cover up. That puts the heat back on you, trying to do the right thing, when you don't have the full information in front of you to diagnose a problem. We are now turning the side where they have now realised that, oh listen, it should have never happened. After how many years, and how many other people have gone through the same thing where it was cover up after cover up? I said to you at the start minister, you have come in with a new lease of life into the ministry you are in. I have asked you to come to the UHL unannounced, you have done it. I am asking you now, no matter who makes a mistake in the hospital, in this country, if they make a mistake put up your hands, let's fix the mistake. The mistake of not fixing it, and having it gone on for years, they don't fix what they have done. The family doesn't get fixed, and there is no protection of the next people that go into the same type of surgery or same mistakes. That is what we are here for. We are not perfect. Deputy Pollock.
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