Holles St accused of ‘cascade of negligence’
Widower sues for millions over pregnant wife’s death
HOLLES Street bosses have been accused of a ‘cascade of negligence’ in a wrongful death lawsuit that could force the hospital to pay out millions to a devastated widow over a bungled routine operation.
Alan Thawley, 31, went to the High Court yesterday claiming he wasn’t told the full picture over the 2016 death of his 34year-old wife Malak at the National Maternity Hospital.
The couple, who had been married for three years, both loved Ireland and enjoyed their lives here ‘thoroughly’.
They had decided to start a family after Malak, a Syrian-born US citizen, turned 34, and in early 2016 she became pregnant.
But she needed emergency treatment because her pregnancy was ectopic – meaning the unborn child was growing in her fallopian tube instead of her uterus.
At Holles Street on May 8, 2016, a surgical implement was inserted into her abdomen at the wrong angle by a junior doctor which tore her aorta – and she lost so much blood that she couldn’t be saved, it is claimed.
In his action seeking damages, Mr Thawley alleges there was ‘one act of negligence followed by another’, including:
The procedure was carried out by an unsupervised and inadequately-trained junior doctor, on a Sunday where there wasn’t a single consultant in the building – and he was never told any of this.
A blood sample was taken from Malak but was not cross-matched to check her type because it was ‘hospital policy’ not to crossmatch blood at weekends. She later died after losing ten units – most of the blood in her body.
Malak’s Body Mass Index was not measured. This would have impacted on surgery because she was a very lean woman.
A delay in contacting a consultant when it became clear there was a problem, and
Two doctors were sent to a local pub to fetch ice after a decision was taken to try to cool her brain, the court heard.
Barrister Liam Reidy told the court the couple were initially told it would be a routine 30-minute procedure but ‘she was taken to theatre at 4pm and Alan never saw her again’.
During the procedure Mr Thawley felt he ‘was not being told the full picture’ until he was visited by National Maternity Hospital boss Dr Rhona O’Mahony at 7.30pm.
The court heard she warned him: ‘There is a chance your wife could die.’ Twenty minutes later, Dr O’Mahony, the hospital’s Master, ‘returned with a specialist surgeon’ and Mr Thawley was told by one of them: ‘Malak is dead.’
Later, when Mr Thawley asked if a mistake had been made, a surgeon said: ‘Yes, this was medical misadventure,’ the court heard.
The widow claims Dr O’Mahony had asked him if he wanted to stay in her home.
Mr Reidy said she was concerned about the American living in Dublin without any family in Ireland, ‘as she realised he had no one at home to give him comfort’. ‘He declined the offer,’ he added.
Dr O’Mahony ‘offered him a lift home,’ which he accepted.
He then ‘shouted and roared for an hour’ in his empty apartment before calling his boss who took him to his home where they were joined by other co-workers.
Later, back at his flat, he lay in bed ‘afraid to touch Malak’s side [of the bed],’ the court heard.
‘It’s something he doesn’t want anyone else to go through,’ Mr Reidy said.
His legal team say Dr O’Mahony should have promptly ‘come clean’ to Mr Thawley about how his wife died when he returned to Holles Street the next day.
Instead, she told Mr Thawley that ‘all surgery has risks’ and that what happened was ‘an accident’.
Mr Reidy alleged: ‘There should have been an admission of liability and an apology. There was quite the opposite.’ Mr Thawley ‘later came to the conclusion this was not an accident,’ and signed up lawyers.
The court heard by January 25, 2017, the day after Mr Thawley issued legal proceedings, the hospital admitted responsibility for events leading to Malak’s death.
He is seeking at least €420,000 for losing his wife plus damages for his ongoing ‘nervous shock’. His lawyers say he’s entitled to damages ‘close’ to what he’d get if he’d suffered a catastrophic injury – possibly millions.
Although the hospital admits its responsibility and apologises, it is disputing the damages sought.
Eoin McCullough, for Holles Street, said the doctor who operated on Malak was certified to carry out such procedures and had carried out more than 90.
The case resumes in the High Court on Tuesday.
paul.caffrey@dailymail.ie
‘This was medical misadventure’