A grieving mum whose daughter died after spending 17 hours on a hospital trolley in a urine-soaked corridor has hit out over her “needless death”.
Eve Cleary, 21, died at University Hospital Limerick – Ireland’s most overcrowded hospital – on July 21, 2019, just hours after being discharged with blood clots.
Her mother Melanie will address thousands at a protest rally next Saturday to highlight conditions at UHL and the lack of emergency health services for the region.
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She told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “There is a lot of anger and people are sick of it.
“Eve’s death was so preventable. I believe this Government have blood on their hands.
“The Government is trying to say it is a winter problem, but we all know that by closing three A&Es in 2009 this is the result.
“Eve spent 17 hours on a trolley in UHL in horrendous conditions. Nothing will bring her back but I hoped lessons would be learnt from her death.
“But nothing has changed.”
A major incident was declared at UHL earlier this month as it recorded record trolley numbers and became overwhelmed by patient numbers.
Management at the hospital said several hundred extra beds are needed as campaigners call for the return of 24-hour emergency departments to district hospitals.
Teenager Aoife Johnston, 16, died of meningitis in December after reportedly spending up to 16 hours on a trolley in the Limerick emergency department.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar welcomed confirmation from the UL Hospital Group that an inquiry into her death, chaired externally, will
be conducted.
Melanie said: “I was horrified to hear it [Aoife’s death]. I know what her family are going through.
“For us it will be four years [this year] since Eve died. It’s something that literally still takes my breath away.
“I spend every day wishing she was still here. Would she be married? Would she have a child?”
Melanie has called for a public inquiry into Eve’s death and has lodged civil proceedings against the HSE with a hearing date yet to be set.
A verdict of medical misadventure was recorded at Eve’s inquest in 2021 which heard she died at UHL after being rushed there by ambulance hours after being discharged.
She had first presented at UHL two days earlier on July 19, 2021, with a swollen leg as well as risk factors for thrombosis and a family history of blood clots.
Eve spent 17 hours on a trolley before getting a bed on a ward, but her patient file could not be found and nurses were unsure why she had been admitted.
The inquest heard UHL was operating with a skeleton staff on a day of record overcrowding. Eve was discharged with suspected soft tissue damage but suffered a cardiac arrest four hours later at her home.
Reliving her eldest born’s tragic last hours, Melanie added: “It was trolleys on both sides of the corridor, you had to squeeze to get through to her.
“It was back-to-back like a train carriage, their knees were bent, there wasn’t even room to lie down properly.
“Eve was really really cold. I had my cardigan off as a pillow for her, there wasn’t even a pillow.
“This was 12 hours before her death like... The smell of urine in the corridor took your breath away. It was vile, it was like a war zone. The conditions were third world.” Eve’s trolley was located next to a sink which had been used as a toilet by another patient.
Melanie said: “Maybe if we could have taken Eve somewhere else she could still be here today.
“My children think something is going to happen to them by the time they are 21, that is heart-wrenching for us.
“It terrifies me if they get sick and an ambulance is called, we would have to bypass Limerick and go to Galway.
“I would not bring them to UHL.” Next Saturday’s protest will start at 11am and will follow a route through Limerick city as campaigners do not want to cause distress to patients or staff at the hospital.
Melanie added: “The campaign is part of Eve’s legacy.
“My last memory of my child is telling her I loved her and her saying, ‘I’m sorry’.
“Eve fell, she went for help, she didn’t get it.
“She was my baby and she will always be loved, her death was absolutely despicable.”
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