Daughter of UHL patient says he ‘died with no dignity’

The daughter of a man who may have been dead for over an hour at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) before being found on the floor by staff has said she does not know if she will ever get over him dying “with no dignity”.

An inquest into the death of Martin Abbott, 65, from Shannon, Co Clare heard he had died after falling from a trolley in the busy emergency department in December 2019.

A verdict of death by medical misadventure was recorded at the inquest.

“My father wasn’t close to death,” said Anne Marie Abbott, Mr Abbott’s daughter. “But for him to have to die with no dignity is something that I don’t know if I’ll ever get over.”

Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, she described her father as “a very strong man, an absolute gentleman in every sense of the word” and said that he and her mother were looking forward to “travelling the world” after retirement.

Ms Abbott said that she had raised concerns about her father’s condition with hospital staff on the evening that he died.

“I felt his breathing was a bit laboured and I wanted something to be done. I was met with a bit of rudeness and they told me that it was nothing to do with them that he was under the care of the medic team… I was told that the doctor would be down within the hour to see dad.

“It was there at 6am and we got a phone call from my mother just stating that the guards were at the door, that UL Hospital was trying to contact us.”

She said that the family went straight to the hospital and were told in a phone call that Mr Abbott had “a turn”.

“The nurse in charge and the registrar on call told us he was dead, that he was found in a collapsed state by the sink and they suspected it was a heart attack. That was all the information that they gave us.

“I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” she said.

Ms Abbott said that she heard about an investigation into her father’s death through local media and the family were not contacted about it first.

“They (UHL) did apologise for not contacting us, but I do feel that the communication should have been instant.”

She said there was a need for reviews and examinations of how hospitals “do things and how they communicate”.

“Communication with families and also with other medical professionals, it’s breaking down everywhere. This is not just within UL Hospital Group, it’s nationwide.”

Ms Abbott said that her family still a lot of unanswered questions but that “with the help of UL Hospital Group, hopefully, hopefully, I’ll get those” and that she would not wish what her family has gone through on anybody.

“It could all be prevented if they look and see how they’re doing things. Accidents do happen, but it’s how they manage these accidents and these tragedies and being honest and trustworthy, instead of prolonging heartache and grief for families.

“They need to just come out and say exactly what happened.”

Her father would always stand up for himself and others, Ms Abbott said, and that she was not standing up for him.

“I will work tirelessly to try and help this and fix this myself. But it’s down to them at the end of the day,” she said.