Apology to family after boy’s death in respite
A COUPLE whose young son died shortly after falling unconscious while in respite care have told of their heartache as they secured an apology under a settlement of their High Court action.
Tristan Neiland, who had various conditions including epilepsy, was rushed to hospital after being found unconscious in his room at the Carmona Respite Services Centre in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin, on January 6, 2013. He was pronounced dead shortly afterwards.
In an emotional interview, Tristan’s mother Angela described how her son “left the house chuckling away” but “entered days later in a white coffin”.
“He loved respite and loved all of those who cared for him. He was a simple and easy going boy who loved being out and about doing boy things,” Ms Neiland said. “It’s funny, my last thoughts when Tristan left the house was how well he was doing. He was running, jumping around and laughing.
“He left the house chuckling away and never in my wildest dreams would I have believed that Tristan would have entered days later in a white coffin,” Ms Neiland told RTÉ ‘Six One News’. She said she will always ‘carry Tristan with her’.
His parents alleged that sixyear-old Tristan died as a result of the failure by the centre to use an oxygen saturation monitor despite a care protocol providing for that and instructions from his mother to do so.
The claims were denied and the case settled on terms including an apology from the organisation that runs the centre.
Tristan’s mother Angela showed Mr Justice Kevin Cross a photograph of her son.
After investigations, the terms neglect and abuse had been used to describe the care received by Tristan and those “are words we live with”, she added. She said she hoped that other families who sought respite “are aware and vigilant of the care and lack of care that are provided by institutions”.
An external investigation had described this as the “worst case of lack of governance” in an institution it had ever seen.
“Tristan died unnoticed, he died alone and we have only an estimation as to his time of death. He died with equipment and medication that was part of his medical protocol only feet away,” Ms Neiland added.
She said attempts by staff to “conceal the facts of what happened on the night and subsequently to deflect blame on the family was reprehensible as borne out by an investigation commissioned by Saint John of God’s”.
She hoped her son’s death has made the Carmona centre “a safer place” but he “had paid for that with his life”.
Andrew and Angela Neiland sued Saint John of God Community Services over Tristan’s death at the Carmona centre.
The parents, of Cabinteely Park, Cabinteely, Dublin, sued for damages over personal injuries and mental distress.
The apology read in court on behalf of the defendants stated: “Saint John of God Community Services clg apologise for the shortcomings in the care of Tristan at the time of his death.
“The service acknowledges that this is a cause of great stress and anguish for Tristan’s family. We also acknowledge that Tristan’s mother did nothing to cause or contribute to his death.”
Bruce Antoniotti SC, for the parents, said that, while Tristan suffered from epilepsy, he was attending school at the time of his death, was healthy, and happy.
He had had some overnight respite in 2012 and his parents placed him in respite on January 4, 2013 as they wanted to take a weekend off.
His mother had provided a detailed care plan and in particular stated that once Tristan fell asleep he had to have a monitor attached to his big toe because when he suffered a serious epileptic seizure he became cyanotic and required oxygen very quickly and the only way to check that was to have him monitored.
On the second night, Tristan went to bed at about 8.30pm and was found dead in the room at 10.56pm. “What happened was they had not attached his monitor and had not checked
it,” Mr Antoniotti said.
Regulations required that Tristan should be checked every 15 minutes but an internal inquiry by the defendants showed he was not checked for either 60 or 88 minutes and he died following a seizure.
Counsel said “disturbing aspects” of this matter, including falsification of notes and falsification of time of death, came out in the internal inquiry and, in fairness to the services, they had admitted certain notes were not correct.