‘Legal review’ delays long-awaited report into Bryonny’s death

The family of a young woman who died in a case of medical misadventure has been told the long-awaited investigation report into her death cannot be released because it is under “legal review”.

Bryonny Sainsbury (25), from Newtownforbes, Co Longford, was kicked in the head by a horse in August 2021 and taken to Mullingar General Hospital where her condition deteriorated.

She died days later at Beaumont

Hospital in Dublin. An inquest was told she could have been saved had she been treated sooner.

Her parents, Alison and Chris, who have been waiting close to three years for an investigation report into Bryonny’s death, were led to believe they would finally receive the report in May, only to be informed of yet another delay.

A letter to the family from the Royal College of Surgeons hospital group, which is conducting the investigation, said copies of the draft report were sent out to the participants in the review

“for feedback” and is now “subject to a legal review”.

The letter said the review team received legal advice that the report cannot be released to the family until the process is complete. It added the “timelines are outside the control of the review team”.

The inquest into Bryonny’s death, which concluded in February, heard of a “divergence of views” between doctors who treated her. There was evidence of consultants differing on who was responsible for her care while in hospital and of scans that showed her deteriorating condition.

A professor at Beaumont Hospital said her condition was “salvageable” had she been transferred there sooner.

The Sainsbury family met the Tánaiste and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin on Thursday and said he has undertaken to find out why the report is taking so long and to press for its release.

The meeting was arranged by the family’s local TD, Joe Flaherty, who has raised the Sainsburys’ case in the Dáil.

When the family met the review team in March last year, they were told they would have the review within four weeks.

Earlier this year, they had been led to believe they would have the investigation report by this month.

Alison Sainsbury said this weekend that the latest delay, on top of all the other delays, has added to the trauma of Bryonny’s loss.

“It takes a lot out of you to continue to fight for answers that you should not have to be fighting for,” she said.