‘We could have avoided costly case if doctors just provided the answers needed’
IF MEDICS had said ‘sorry’ and provided answers to a heartbroken mother of two desperate to know why her golf-pro husband died, a case might never have been brought before the courts.
And according to the solicitor involved in the high-profile legal battle taken by Catherine Duggan against the Health Service Executive over the lack of care given to husband Liam Duggan at University Hospital Kerry, it took four years to settle the case which could have been resolved within a year of his death.
The Kerry sportsman was a PGA advanced golf professional. Two months after he was first admitted to the Tralee hospital complaining of a sick stomach, the 37-year-old died on May 9, 2017 from multiple organ failure caused by septicaemia.
This week the compensation case taken by his young widow Catherine was settled through mediation for a ‘substantial’ six-figure sum and the State Claims Agency will also have to foot the separate €100,000plus legal bills of both Liam’s family and the HSE.
Mrs Duggan’s solicitor Rachael O’Shaughnessy of Limerick legal firm HOMS Assist told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘They may not even have taken a case… they may have just wanted to understand “what happened to my husband?” [if they had been given the answers to their questions].
‘People don’t come to us and think, “I want money”.
‘They come in and say, “I don’t understand what’s happened. I just feel like they are looking at me strange...”.
‘I think it’s a lack of communication and, under the policy of open disclosure, a doctor saying, “I’m sorry, Mrs Duggan”, doesn’t mean they are liable. It doesn’t mean they are negligent; it means, “I’m sorry there was a mistake”.’
Ms O’Shaughnessy added: ‘Mistakes can happen in any walk of life. Then we have to prove as lawyers that it’s a mistake that reasonably shouldn’t have been made.
‘You can do everything right but there’s still a risk – there’s a risk with any surgery.
‘There is research that shows where there is open disclosure early on there is less litigation because I do think a lot of people don’t have an appetite to take legal claims.
‘They might just want to move on but they want to understand what’s happened and it’s more like they say, “I need closure or I want to do this in my husband’s name”.’
She said her client told her she did not want any other person to go through what she suffered, but needed basic answers about what happened to her husband.
Ms O’Shaughnessy told the MoS: ‘For Catherine, she said, “I don’t want anyone else to go through this and I suppose, in his memory, if anything could change it would be that there is a frank and honest conversation or there’s an agreement that we are going to look into this and we will present you with a report in a timely manner”.’
Four years ago, on March 18, 2017, Liam Duggan went to his local hospital in Tralee complaining of abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and a high temperature.
He was diagnosed with sepsis and, after receiving treatment, was discharged almost three weeks later on April 3, while still symptomatic.
The father of two was readmitted on April 12, and by then he was seriously ill.
Liam was suffering from severe stomach pain, was vomiting, had a high temperature and pulse, and there was also evidence that he had sepsis.
His condition deteriorated further and he was transferred to Cork University Hospital where he died on the May 9, after being placed in an induced coma.
There were no goodbyes. Only unanswered questions. And a belief that something ‘didn’t add up’.
Describing what happened on the day Liam died, Ms
O’Shaughnessy said: ‘Liam was put into an induced coma and Catherine left to put the children to bed. Jack was three and Amelia was one. ‘Nobody indicated before he was put into an induced coma that this was as serious as it was. Catherine had gone home to put the children to bed and came back and never got to say goodbye.
‘Liam passed away in May and then, in August, we had the inquest. The last thing you need to be dealing with is trying to understand why he passed away in the first place and then, when you have that question, nobody seems to have any explanation for you.
‘We had the inquest and you know you don’t understand things any further, only that ...it was “natural causes” and “there’s nothing to see here”.
‘They denied liability at the inquest; they denied liability in the court documents and then they go to mediation and settle without prejudice but end up giving the apology where they clearly state that the deficit in care led to Liam’s death.
‘There was no benefit in dragging the whole thing out because we arrived four years later where Catherine could have arrived within a year.
‘And also it’s a lot more costly because not only is there the costs of damages and compensation she is going to be getting, there’s the legal costs which can be significant where you get to the stage where you are preparing for trial.’
She added: ‘All that could have been saved. It will be the State Claims Agency that will have to pay all of it… the damages, our legal costs which will be more than €100,000, and the legal costs of the defendants.
‘It’s a vicious circle… we’re the patients getting the care – we’re the patients paying for it all.’
This week, four years after Mr Duggan died, a settlement was reached, and the general manager of University Hospital Kerry Fearghal Grimes issued an apology.
It stated: ‘University Hospital Kerry would like to acknowledge the deficits of care, which resulted in the untimely death of your husband and father Liam.
‘We recognise that his loss has had a profound and devastating impact on you and your family.
‘I wish to offer my heartfelt apologies for the shortcomings in the care provided and for the distress suffered by you, Jack, seven, and Amelia, five.’
€200k legal bills for State Claims Agency
‘Catherine never got to say goodbye’