Maxine is being 'failed in death' mum says, as recommendations at her inquest still not enacted

Her devastated mother Kathleen says recommendations made at an inquest into Maxine’s death in April 2019 have not been implemented.

She said: “All these would save lives but there is no sign of them being implemented. Maxine is gone five years now. She was doing her masters in child, youth, and family studies. 

She wanted to help people, so my hope would be that these recommendations would be implemented and even in her death she could still help people. 

She added: “We waited over two years for an inquest, put ourselves through an inquest, and are still waiting on the recommendations to be implemented. 

"Maxine deserved better. She was failed in life and now failed in death.” 

The jury recommended changes should be implemented in the Irish mental health system and services, including making it easier for returning patients to return to the system. 

A recommendation was also made for the chief clinician on call to personally review the patient before they are discharged, while it was also recommended that technology should be introduced to make patients’ files easier to access.

Kathleen said her daughter was in the burns unit of St James’s Hospital in Dublin for 39 days before she died. She recalled:

She was wrapped like a mummy from head to toe, in a coma, with machines helping her live. I knew how she died, I watched it, I didn't have to attend an inquest or put my family through the horrendous experience. 

She welcomes the decision by the Oireachtas justice committee to hold hearings in June on the issue of reforming of the coroners' system.

“It's about learning what went wrong and what mistakes were made, and making sure this does not happen again.” 

When asked what actions had been taken to address the recommendations made at Maxine’s inquest, a spokeswoman for the HSE said: “All recommendations that are received from individual coroners by the HSE at local or national level are given due consideration in the context of local implications and or the wider health care changes that may be required or have been introduced in the intervening years since the person’s death.”